Silent Hill: Artificial Human
by shua
Summary: Alone in Silent Hill, Darren faces the horrors of the past and pains of the present as he uncovers more of the horrid truth of the town and its intentions with him and its past vicitms.Will he become another victim or will he atone for his sins.
1. Chapter 1: He Isn't Here Yet?

Silent Hill: Artificial Human

Part One

Chapter One: He Isn't Here Again?

The pool of complete darkness which took refuge of my entire body seemed to finally be sinking away, letting me free. But in its absence took place another type of darkness, this one more frightening than the former. It covered my entire being and trapped me inside of its cold and icy body, never again letting me witness or experience the joy that is the light. The darkness has consumed the world and brought happiness down on its knees, begging it for forgiveness for something it didn't do, like an innocent man persecuted and sentenced to death for a crime he didn't commit, or one he couldn't dare visualize let alone act upon.

But this can not be reality can it? A strange darkness which gives an unreal and irrational sense of cold and hopelessness. But it much be very real. This can't be a dream, it has no pleasures which a dream contains, and it lacks the odd sense of familiarity which accompanies a nightmare. What is it then?

I struggled to move, if not for the piercing and utterly unbearable pain I might have been able to. My eyes, they must be closed, that would explain this illusory darkness. No, they are open I confirmed after thrusting my hands to my face in futile attempt to throw back the ever creeping darkness. A bright pulsing flash of light split through the back of my eyes somewhere in my mind. Following it was an unbelievable rush of pain, like a whip was cracked at the back of my brain, searing through like a hot knife through flesh.

Little by the little the blackness started to fade away, leaving little slithers of gray which marked the inhuman silhouettes of my fingers before my open eyes. But this new field of vision extended no more than a few inches I noticed as I slowly moved my hand back, watching my fingers fade away in the darkness until eventually being consumed by it. Just another victim of the darkness. No this is it, I can't stay here any longer. I don't feel safe. I've always felt that way, with darkness comes pain, fear, and uncertainty. Things I hate to even vision that could possible exist.

I hesitantly dragged my aching body up. It was like glass, unable to move but in one direction, and when it's forced to move outside its plane of comfort it shatters in pain. My bones shattered and cracked as I stood up and left small but intense occasional bursts of pain in my body. From somewhere on the back of my neck I felt an icy trickle begin to descend from the back of my head down my back and onto wherever it is that I'm laying. Someplace hard and terrifically unbearable. I struggled up to my feet and leaned against the wall on my shoulder. It gave away after another blow of pain, I fell to my knees, cracking them on the hard concrete. Slowly, gaining more and more confidence, I stood up again. This time, being conscious of my busted shoulder I groped the wall with my hand. What I felt there, much like the darkness, was unworldly. The walls have a fur like quality, much like the shiny coat of a husky. The feeling was extremely small and almost nonexistent. Upon closer feeling, I discovered they can't be much more that a centimeter long. I rubbed my hand in downward motion across the wall. A warm, syrup thick liquid was squirting, in barely noticeable amounts, through tiny cracks in the wall. There were cool damp spots in places and in others the wall was near crumbling, one part I found with my hand I was able to pull copious amounts of wet and molded plaster off. It fell to the floor with a barely audible thud. I walked forward, slowly, using the wall as a guide. Suddenly an onset of the most horrid smell penetrated my nostrils leaving me choking for air. I've never smelt anything like it before, the most putrid thing you can think of, like rotting corpses left over from a battle in the scorching heat of the sun, scavengers and flies picking at their green, lifeless bodies, a painful confused expression on their faces, asking why God decided so abruptly to take their lives away. Why would they even be given life just to experience a cruel, painful, and needless death, left to be the dinner for viscous birds and insects, who feed off of others suffering just for their own gain.

As I walked on, I began to notice the floor was getting more, how can I put this, almost softy and squishy, like a pillow or something. It got to the point where it's consistence nearly rivaled that of a thick mud and eventually quicksand. As I slowly started to fall into the floor I struggled to leap to the side but the tremendous pain which emanated from all parts of my body caused to flinch and grab my sides, uttering a loud moan of pain which echoed throughout the building a couple of times. I could feel my feet slowly begin to vanish underneath the slimy darkness, my legs following. It slowly climbed up my body, consuming my chest, my shoulder, my neck. An instant later, I was standing in the same spot I previously was, but the hellish floor returned to its normal state. I stomped my foot on it three times to assure its hardness and continued on. A few feet from where I started I ran right into a large wooden object protruding from the wall. Just about a foot and a half left it curved and continued on straight where it once again started left and straight again. I felt over the top of the object. It felt normal, cold wood. Inside the first box was a chair. An old, cracked, and moldy one.

After examining everything else in my direct surroundings it was then that I discovered where I was, when it dawned on me. A courtroom, this is a courtroom. Relieved by knowing that I was in an earthly place I moved around more freely and the terrible pains in my body seemed to calm down as the icy feeling of assurance spread throughout my body. A few moments later the nagging question, which has been so frequently tapping at my conscious only to find utter indifference finally gained the results it was looking for as it entered my mind and destroyed any possible hopeful thoughts I had but moments ago. And just as quick as it came it left like a wave finally reaching its destination on the sandy shores in from of some exotic resort only to be pulled back again against its will into the ocean, never truly witnessing what life must be like on the other side.

How did I get here? Why must I ask myself this, surely I'm sane enough to be aware of what's been happening to me. Yet how can I be sane if I am in a seemingly otherworldly courthouse which rests in a state of complete darkness. Why can't I remember? Come to think of it I can't remember anything, my name, how I got here, memories, why my body feels like an oven, or ….. I can't remember who I am, what I've gone through, how I lived my life.

The door, I have to get out of here, this place is the barrier blocking my mind from being free, it's the one thing that keeps me in this psychotic sickness. I have to leave, this place feels unsafe, I know it sounds like a bunch of crap but it's true. This place makes me shiver and twitch with an awful sense of foreboding that something bas is going to and will happen.

I ran down the rows of chairs, towards what I thought would be the exit. Nothing happened though, as I ran the longer the aisle seemed to get, and the darker too. The faint shadows of what was once my hands vanished and an extreme sense of icy coldness seemed to appear out of nowhere. I could feel the cold but it mustn't really be there because my body made to reaction to indicate that it was there or that it was affecting it. My heart rate heightened and I could feel and hear my heart beating. I felt the blood in my pulsing throughout my body as it traveled towards its destination. Everything began to spin and once again the floor took up its unnatural state of softness, until it reached the state of quicksand as it did before. Don't worry, I told myself. Like before it would return back to its hard cold state.

The farther and faster I ran the longer the aisle got. My movements were slowed by the ever disappearing floor. Like I was running in water up to the lower part of my chest. From somewhere behind my I could hear loud inhuman footsteps on the floor. The floor, what floor? But the noise didn't lie, I may be in this watery hell but someone, or something else definitely isn't. I began to swim as the sound got a louder, and a gurgling growl followed by a dragging noise like leaves blowing across the street in mid fall, crinkling against the pavement. It was coming close and I was swimming harder than ever, slimy fingers of seaweed grabbing at my legs, trying to bring me down, to drown me. The darkness began to evaporate little by little, allowing me to see the tiny ripples of icy water in front of me and faint shadows of what lie ahead, nothing. But those footsteps continued their loud obnoxious beating on concrete. I stopped and treaded water, thrashing away the eager seaweed from my feet. I turned around three hundred sixty degrees, confirming that I was surrounded by water, a tiny speck of man in the never ending abyss. The sound continued thought, and with no identifiable source, it began to get me angry.

Something from somewhere in front of me was peacefully floating along the water. I could hear it get closer, and I prepared my self, fists up, for whatever it was, struggling to stay above the water for a moment. A large, wooden thing hit me right in the mouth knocking out one of my teeth, immersing blood into the water like cream in your coffee on a cold winter day. It was apparently a raft of some sort. Without hesitation, and mainly due to that noise from somewhere behind me getting louder, I threw myself on it. To my surprise I was able to get on with supreme ease and it floated surprisingly swiftly with the newly developed current. The noise became fainter and fainter until it was just background noise. I tried to position myself more in the center of the raft but with great difficulty due, still, to the undying darkness. But instead of finding a nice comfortable, not to mention, dry spot, I found a mushy object soaked with that same syrup thick liquid which was subtlety spraying out of the walls of the courthouse building. I felt around and in my hand, moments later, lay a mushy, sticky clump of what appeared to be string. I brought it up to my face and shoved it under my nose to try to identify it. All I picked up was the faint smell of blood and a familiar oily scent, which I've smelled thousands of time previously. I rubbed my hand up and down the object, it was covered it some kind of cloth, sticky just like the clump of whatever it was. I felt around more until my fingers rested on a smooth, yet unusually wet, skin like structure. After a few moments of attempted understanding, it dawned on me. This is skin! This is damn person! Dead obviously but still, holy hell! I slid backwards in fear and fell of the raft back into the water. The water was unusually still and made no noise or movement as I exploded into it. I fell down into the darkness unaware of how deep I would fall.

Unexpectedly, I hit bottom, a very hard bottom mind you. Concrete again. Some different building though, it smelled like flowers. I feel fine, fresh and reenergized. But there it is again, the nerve ripping sound, but this time not in the distance, right behind me. I ran forward in the darkness, not even conscious of what it may be that I run into. I ran, my footsteps failing in comparison to the loud bangs of the ones behind me. I ran, still not reaching anything, and then. A loud crack echoed throughout my ears as I smashed my skull into a hard wall, breaking all the bones in my face. I fell down to the floor, blood pouring out of my mouth, nose, eyes. For a brief instance, before once again I dove down into the unending pool of darkness I witnessed the creature standing above me letting a warm liquid fall onto my face. Dark shadows and green eyes with small yellowish pupils, a heavy steam sprouting from its nostrils onto my pain ridden face. I dove in.

"Where is he mom, we're going to be late again!" A young girl whimpered to her mother as she tugged on her blue skirt which descended to he knees. The two are standing on a comfortable porch just outside of a beautiful country home. Dusk had won the battle with the setting sun and taken over the night sky. Specks of stars littered the sky and a faint, barely bright shadow indicated the position of the blue moon. A car drove by, the little girl looked up with great anticipation, but as the car passed, dropped her head back down on her chest looking annoyed.

"Now don't worry honey, I'm sure he'll be here soon. After all he promised you didn't he. He wouldn't miss out on your big night." The girl's mother said in that unique comforting and assuring tone that only woman possess. The girl smiled momentarily and then returned to her depressed position. She's dressed in a costume of what appears to be a fairytale princess. It's the little girl's first school play and between the overweight feelings of nervousness and annoyance with her brother, small tears began to slide down her pale cheek. A dark rain cloud floated through the sky blocking out the stars and leaving the world in darkness. A car passed by, the girl following the taillights with a sad frown. Her brother let her down.

Miles down the road, just at the outskirts of town, a man lay bloody, bruised, and beaten in a ditch just off the side of the road. The loud songs of the crickets and the engines from the passing cars overran his moans and occasional cries for help. He has dark brown, curly hair which loosely and freely fell down to just above his shoulders. His eyes, a shade of dark blue, a physical anomaly, were covered in blood, dried and new. His face, while utterly perfect, not showing any signs of a single blemish was badly beaten and bruised. A tremendous amount of blood was resting upon it. He struggled to raise his hand up in a last ditch effort to get some notice, awareness of his dire predicament, but when he finally managed to lift it up it fell back down into the dirt. A swirl of darkness covered him up, like a blanket.


	2. Chap 2:We Need A Little More Cosistency

Chapter Two: We Need A Little More Consistency

I drifted between a light and annoying sleep like state and a deep sleep filled with dreams which I have no recollection of, not even the slightest detail. A hole opened up in the darkness from somewhere up above, small at first, barely bigger than a penny, and then more and more larger eventually taking up my entire field of vision. With the light came an intense heat which soothed my body from the coldness. Eventually the darkness took up no more space than inches around the rims of my eyes. I found the courage and I climbed out.

I was lying a comfortable couch, not to bad looking, but a drastically distasteful color, a dark yet light colored green. I looked around the room: white walls with multiple paintings on them, a window half open allowing a bright ray of sunlight to lighten the room. A man was sitting in the chair next to me writing something down on a pad of paper. He wasn't too bad looking, but definitely not good looking let me tell you that. Midfifties maybe, graying hair, a thin silver moustache and small golden rimmed glasses. He numerous wrinkles o n his face and a dull look in his eyes, evidence that this man has gone through years of negative stress. He began to talk, but the words coming out of his mouth couldn't have been English. I strained my ears for slightest sign of comprehension but I couldn't even recognize the language he was speaking.

Automatically, and against my will, my mouth opened and I talked in some foreign language. What was I saying? I haven't noticed before, but everything was shrouded in a blurry haze, adding a mist like quality to the room. It was then that I realized that it was not me in the couch, well not me, my mind at least. I'm just a spectator in this little back and forth game. But why am I seeing this? Why can't I move my body or understand what I'm saying, I've never spoken a foreign language before. My whole body seems to be in some sort of paralyzed state, but when it did move, it wasn't because of me. I feel like a robot in a TV show who is being controlled by a pilot from the inside. A robot with no thoughts or mind at all save for my pilot's who tells me what to do and what to think.

The more I listened to their conversation, the more absurd the voices became and slowly they became slurred and inaudible. The misty haze had subsided and was replace by a creeping darkness. Slowly moving towards me from the other side of the room. I fell to the floor clutching my stomach. It had opened up and all my insides started to pour out in a waterfall of blood. The man in the chair looked down at me dying on the floor and smiled. He took his glasses off, rubbed each lens on his shirt, and set them besides him. He then got up, rolled upped his sleeves and dove down at my spilling guts, picking them up and eating them. Each bite sent ripples of intense pain throughout my body as his sharp and hot teeth seared through my intestines ripping it apart. I muttered a plead for him to stop but it never left my mouth. The man transformed into a big dog like creature. He had no hair at all, just white skin, which looked burned in places and at others ripped apart, covered in scars and dried blood. He had no eyes, just dark rotting skin and slits of darkness. His mouth was a dark and moldy as well and his sharp teeth protruded from it in all directions, piercing through his skin. It looked down at me, blood and small pieces of chewed flesh fell in my face. In the corner of my eye I could still see the other me, still up on the couch talking away, unaware that his listener had transformed into some inhuman rabid beast who was eating something right on the god damn floor before him.

The monster lifted up his arms, or claws more like it. They were massive and parallel the size of his body which stood about six feet tall. Both of his arms were missing chunks of flesh, exposing his muscles and bones, they're the same color as the rest of his body. At the end of his arm, about tow feet long were long blades where there should have been fingers. They were covered with hardened blood and pieces of flesh were stuck in between them. Instantly, he drove his right claw right through my stomach, blood and insides erupting like a bloody volcano. The thing started to dig away at my body, but I felt no pain. I saw it all. My legs, feet, arms, hands, stomach, lungs, torso, chest, and fingers when flying across the room and splat across the wall sliding down in a smear of dark red blood. He stopped digging at me right before he reached my face. He shoved his dismembered head right next to me and turned his head sideways in curiosity. A thick hurricane of steam erupted through the tiny slits of what is his nose just above his torn up lip. It was nauseas and I was close to fainting when once again of black pool of nothingness opened up at my feet, beckoning me to dive in. And like always I did, not caring where it took me this time.

Once again the bright, intense light pierced away through the darkness. But this time it was there when I opened my eyes. The scene flooded in in and icy cold rush of relief. I'm sure that this is reality. A hospital room. Your typical hospital room, decorated with the usual bouquet of flowers and "Get Well Soon Cards". There's two chairs pushed up close to the side of my bed, in each of them of my mom and my little sister. They looked extremely sad about something, about what? Is someone hurt?

"Look darling, he's up." My mother said smiling. She's a pretty woman. Bright, golden hair, a pretty smile and a flawless age, surprising for her age which is somewhere in the forties. I can't really remember. My sister looked up wide eyed, she didn't seem happy, resentful is more like it. Oh, shit. Her play. I completely forgot about it. Damn, how could I? I was looking forward to that all day and then I just blew it off.

"I missed my play 'cause of you!" She said extremely sarcastically as little kids do.

"I'm so sorry, Addie, I don't know how I forgot. I was looking forward to it all day, I swear." I said soothingly to her. She had began to cry when she said it and I felt so bad. I hated seeing her cute face cry.

"Yea , right, I bet you did it on purpose." She said as she turned her head in a rude gesture. My mother noticed this and nudged her rather hardly in the shoulder, she winced momentarily but acted as if she didn't notice it. She still has on her costume. Oh, I'm so sorry.

"Oh, honey are you all right," My mother said looking at me. It took awhile for me to respond because I didn't expect that she would be talking to me. Of course I'm all right. Why the hell wouldn't I be. It was then that I noticed that I was the one in the hospital bed. It completely slipped my mind, I thought I was in a chair as well.

"Wrong, what could be wrong with me, look, I'm perfectly Albright. How did I get here? The last thing I remember is getting out of school and heading home to pick up you and Addie for her play. Now I'm here, how the hell did that happen?" I said just to get my mother's approval, to tell you the truth I could really care less about the situation I'm in, I mean in can't be to bad.

"Honey, they found you in ditch just on the outskirts of town, beaten and bloody upped badly. Don't you remember who did it, so you can tell the police." She said enthusiastically.

What is she talking about? The police, side of the road? She must be going mad.

"What are you talking about mom, I'm thirsty will you get me a soda out of the refrigerator." She looked at me, jaw dropping, tears pouring down her face.

"Honey, you're in the hospital the last thing you should want is a damn soda!" She screamed for no distinct purpose. What the hell is she talking about?

"Well Mrs. Orson your son seems to be showing signs of your basic schizophrenia patient but what is odd is that he suffers from multiple hallucinations which he can't distinguish between reality and the inventions of his own mind. Normally, patients diagnosed with schizophrenia have little or no signs of hallucinations. These are experiences are more typical of a drug or alcohol abuser but clearly your son is neither of these. Also he has severe atrophy in parts of his thalamus and cerebral cortex which, once again, is not typically found in patients suffering with psychological disorders."

"Well wait a minute Doctor, just what are you saying."

"Please let me finish, you'll have a better understanding when I'm done. Now, as I was saying your son has significantly fewer neurons in his cerebral cortex than others with the same symptoms. The cause of his extreme case has yet to be determined as has his disease, he portrays symptoms which normally wouldn't be found in schizophrenic patients. To make it short, I'm sorry to say this, but your son has an undiscovered and previously unreported psychological illness which, at the present moment has no medical treatment."

"Well, what can we do to help him?"

"Well, what I suggest is to wait a little while and examine his manner and behaviors more and then make decisions on the matter."

"And what if he gets worse? What are we going to do with him them?"

"Possibly your son will need to be institutionalized where his diseases can be closely studied and a cure can be found which can hopefully help others with the same symptoms."

"Well, what about him, what about my son? Won't you be able to help him."

"I'm sorry Mrs. Orson but the damage already done to his brain is irreversible."

A dense layer of mist revolves around madly and eventually dies out into a subtle layer of mist. It's the past. Little Darren Orson lays at the table scribbling with a crayon on a piece of paper. What he is drawing is unable to be made out. In the room besides him, an older woman and man are arguing about their son, who at the present moment isn't paying attention to what they're saying, even if he was he wouldn't be able to understand them anyway. They are arguing about him.

"Now listen here Lisa, you know damn well that we won't be able to help him. The least you can do is treat him like a fellow human instead of some mistake that you made and are out to correct. Lisa, he isn't a mistake, if God intended him to be that way then he's supposed to be that way!" The man yelled at the woman.

"Intended him to be that way, my god Jean, look at the boy, he can't even keep a steady conversation going for more than three damn words without going off topic. He doesn't fit in at school, he has no friends. He has hallucinations Jean! Your hear him, just out of the blue like when he's hatching TV he's starts talking and acting like he's somewhere else, it isn't normal. He's psychotic!" The woman yelled back. Little Darren continued to draw this time he started a new picture, this one more obvious of to what is than the previous. He drew in a yellow color with large claws that he was using to dig up buried treasure on a small island. In large brown letters at the bottom of the page he wrote the word "DIGGER", his g's and r's backwards. The argument continued in the neighboring room.

"Now listen here Lisa," Jean continued, "there is nothing wrong with the boy that you didn't cause with your constant nagging and criticizing of him. You're the one who made him unsocial, he doesn't have social anxiety disorder, he's a normal human being who is just a little slow at life and he doesn't need your goddamn bithcing and yelling at him all the time. You scare him Lisa."

"The hell I do , he needs it. He shouldn't be acting all weird like that, he should be able to play with other kids without scaring them away, it's not normal to think that your son thinks he can walk through walls, has six fingers, or that he's two inches tall. It also isn't normal that he goes around pretending he sees a big dog like creature with huge claws that he says is going to kill him at night."

"Well maybe he isn't normal, but what he needs is your love as a mother, not your hatred and apathetic attitude towards him, he needs somebody there for him, a woman Lisa, I can't give to him what you can. And let me tell you this, he damned well is normal, and I don't ever want you or anyone to ever sat that he isn't ever again, you got me?" He looked like he had enough of the conversation. He sat down at the table and picked up the cup of coffee he had set down before the argument. A few seconds later he spit it out back into the cup. Ice cold.

The little boy in the other room got up and walked into the kitchen a few moments before the argument had stopped. His mother turned around, red in the face. She walked over to him, towering above him, steam almost coming out of her ears, she slapped him, her long fingernails digging into his side of face. Blood began to trickle down along with his tears.

"You little bastard! How many times have I told you not to eavesdrop. Go to your room and don't come out into morning." She firmly, not caring that she had just harmed her child in more ways than one.

"But mommy, digger's up there." He cried towards her.

"I said go now! End of discussion." She yelled, near bursting point. The sad look on Darren's faced disappear and in its place a happy expression resided. He ran up the stairs of his room mumbling happily about a talking bear and purple aliens, his curls bouncing up and down as he went.

After making sure that his son had went up the stairs and into his room, Jean said, "You see what I mean Lisa, you don't even treat him like a person, you treat him like some disgusting creature you found in you food or like some lowlife, don't forget Lisa, he's human, and you helped to create him."

"No! I had nothing to do with the creation of that horrid freak!" She yelled as she ran out of the room. She walked up to the picture that her son had drawn not thirty minutes ago. A deeply angry look took over her face, ever her movements were angrily executed. She picked it up and ripped into pieces and dropped onto the floor. The pieces landed in a neat mound, like a newly dug grave in a cemetery, the three long claws of Digger's right arm landing on top. She walked out of the room biting her nails.


	3. Chap 3: Terror In The Depths Of The Fog

Chapter Three: Terror In The Depths Of The Fog

Once when I was little, maybe around six or seven, I can't remember which, hell, I'm surprised I even remember this, I had a dream. The reason it's stayed with me so long and hasn't evaporated into the hidden portion of my mind is because it's a dream and yet it isn't. It seemed too real to be nestled in the cushions of the dream world, yet too farfetched to take its place in the fast paced, uncertain real world. It was as if I was actually there….

I still remember the night as well. It was a Tuesday, I had just gotten in bed, nine o'clock. Or to put it more accurately I just almost reached the blissful melody of sleep. My mother and father had had a fight that night, I can't remember about what though. It took me so long to fall asleep because I was intensely paranoid of the monster in my closet and the shadows reflecting off the light of the moon and permeating into my room, taking refuge on the walls. Lying there taunting me. The claw like branches of the tree just outside and the horrifying grunts of the thing inside my closet. I've seen him before, one night, I was alone in the house. My father was in the hospital, and God knows where my mother was, with him probably. I had a babysitter, but I'm pretty sure she must've left, because when He came out of the closet, I yelled and screamed, like the banshee of the badlands, but no one came, no one even acknowledged me.

He came out slowly, the doorknob turning uncertainly, as if He was afraid He'd be seen. But the only thing that saw him was that of my unworthy and delusional eyes. He was the most horrific thing I've ever seen, well at that time. At the present moment I've seen more terrifying things that even your deepest creativity, curiosity, and even your imaginary worlds, you wouldn't, or more accurately couldn't picture, not even the slightest slither of an explanation. He came out with that horrendous, mutilated body. He had a faceless, rotted, face. The only distinguishable features being his faint shadows of eyes and the open wounds of his flesh which showed nothing but rotting body. His torso was slim and caved in about halfway down on either side. Much like His face, His torso was ripped and void of skin is some places. His skin was a dark tan color, stained with blood and rot. His arms extended down about three feet of pure rotted and burnt muscle and flesh, and then they curved into to form a six foot long blade like claw on either side, both being stained with a crimson liquid, pieces of flesh dry, stuck to them. His legs, thin almost needle like things, three of them in total, and two more, one on each side of His mutilated hips. As He walked forward a faint mist like vapor began to emit from His body and a low moan erupted from somewhere.

He approached slowly carefully moving His arms in proportioned with his body. He was too large for my room, standing almost eight feet tall when my room was about only nine. His arms a total length of about fifteen feet, my room's width only being approximately thirteen. He positioned his claw like blade arms forward like a gun and continued walking, hell bent on reaching me. Me, the sad little boy crying alone on my bed, begging God to save me from what ever the ruddy hell this terrifying was. I gave Him a name back then, a name which at the time suited Him, for what He did with people. How He ripped their flesh open and tore it away. Like a dog digging. Digger the dog. I once remember a dog from somewhere, I'm not sure where or do I know even the slightest ounce of comprehension surrounding the memory, but it's there and it haunts me.

A blurry mist like haze, a hot summer day, the sun pouring out intense heat, deep dark shadows cast on every building, of cars, people, buildings, and of course. The little dog named Digger. A small dog, still a pup. Grey hair mixed in with an odd array of white, brown, black, and an orangish color in a variety of places. He was running down a deep, in the process of turning yellow, slope. Searching for a buried treasure to which only he knows the location of, for he's the conniving pirate who hoarded it away for know one else to see or ever find a again. X marks the spot, doggie. A few curious snivels in the air, whiskers reflecting off the creamy orange light, leaving a shadow on the floor which is capable of misinterpretation. He sprained his scraggy neck down into the exact location where he had left a dark secret not too long ago. The memory too fresh in his head too be easily forgotten. Swift, ripping motions explode as the dog delves his front paws into the patch of dirt, his hind legs in a firm unforgiving stance, slowly moving backwards as he digs. Every few seconds readjusting himself and then getting ready for the dive again. Fierce, unforgiving, fatal blows at the coward dirt, kicking it up in the air like an ever real mist spawned on the spot with no identifiable source. It swirls around, the dog's expressions turns violent as he continues the ripping a the innocent ground, teeth bared, a river of throth emerging at the corners of his mouth, his nails extending and becoming sharper, his cute bluish eyes turning a deep black until all he has left is massive pupils. The mist like dirt swirls around more violently blocking my field of vision, and then, I'm cut off completely.

Digger approaches me, as I sit there crying for help, none comes. A thicker layer of mist spurts out of the open wounds on His torso, legs, and head. The crimson liquid on his claws, momentarily freezes, and then like a hundred gallons of water it pours all over the floor, He dives at me, claws piercing into my stomach, blood rushing up to my throat and spurting out, massive amounts of red spray across the walls and floor, my vision goes blank and a pool of darkness opens up at my feet. I dive in.

Much later, darkness has taken over the skies, a dark barely noticeable layer of dense mist lie in the air. My head and back are pressed against something hard. A concrete barricade, blocking off the entrance into some building. Amazingly, though, upon close examination, my body bears no visible wounds except the ones when I took my hectic dive out of the pool onto the unforgiving asphalt. My head was spinning in all directions as I just spun around in one solitary circle over one million times. A uneasy feeling erupted somewhere from my stomach, wanting to expel something that didn't belong there, something dangerous, capable of harm. I fought the feeling and surprisingly beat it. It was then that I took a keen and possibly haphazard interest in just where I was and if He was here with me.

An alleyway, layered with rundown buildings that barely looked as if they were barely suitable for any type of living inhabitants. Windows shattered, graffiti lined the bricks of the buildings along with boarded up holes and their were parts where everything collapsed on itself for no apparent reason, or none, in my ignorance, that I could think of at the time. Walls, large impenetrable ones separated me from getting anywhere closer than five yards from the building. Thick layers of oddly eerie looking moss and mold covered the dense walls which separated here and there. The darkness slowly began to dissolve into a slow swirling patterned mist. A dense, thick, heavy mist. Visibility was completely cut off to little more than a few inches in front of my face. The buildings, everything, slowly sank into shadows which quickly became nothing more than sad looking silhouettes etched into the background of the unreal mist. As I walked forward the ever gaining so thick mist swallowed me up until I became nothing more than a lonely silhouette, alone in the mist, alone in the darkness, alone in the abandoned town of nightmares. I could only imagine what could have been possibly running through my mind at that time. And it was then that the mist turned into what it really was, a dangerous and intoxicating fog.

I had little to none perceptibility to where I was going. I simply followed the lines on the road like a dazed lunatic tracing a love letter in his own blood against the padded prison cell which he was forced to inhabit for eternity, knowing nothing of the joys of the world, but only the dark despair which lie deep within the human heart. Hidden away as if not to let you in one its truth, it's oh so terribly dark truth which few people can comprehend without going insane, I was one of them. Well I was one of the one's who managed to hold on to a small piece of my sanity whilst the others did not.

I stayed right on top of the parallel yellow lines in the middle of the road, knowing that while I may be so blatant to give away my position that I have the best focus point on the entire street. I knew He was here, He brought me into his world, the world of many different worlds, a world of darkness….

I made a lot of turns in my search for God knows what. I had no idea of what the hell I was doing. Only looking down upon myself now I realize that familiar look upon my face. The dull, dazed, stupor in which the young me was in. For he had no control over his movements let alone his thoughts, someone was in his mind telling him what to do. Drool leaked out of the left corner of his mouth and fell to the floor like blood.

He walked in a daze, sure of the destination in which he was headed. I wasn't. I have no recollection whatsoever of this morbid affair. But that makes me ask myself, why am I seeing this now? A question in which the answer so desperately tries to be answered but isn't. I was let down.

Motivation. What motivation does this young boy have that seems to drive him into this madness and uncertainty. A world penetrated by the thick, devilishly cold fog. And insanity ensued from that moment on. Low static rumbles echoed from near every direction: up, down, left, right, you name it. The noise was small and faint, struggling with its newfound existent, still unsure of what is out to do. As seconds passed on and psychotic boy continued down the fog smothered empty street the noise resonated louder and louder until it was like a TV on at full blast trying to show a snowy channel that didn't come in. The kid showed no notice to it, not even the slightest twitch or blink or recognition of the terror lurking in the depths of the thick hellish fog. He pressed on, wearing nothing but a thin almost silk like nightshirt, the cold clearly making an impression on his body. His face was of a thick texture and turned a pale shade of blue and green, his eyes pulsed as his blood vessels inside them grew rapidly larger, his nose started pouring out a watery reddish substance. It slid down his face and onto his clothes.

Just as the noise reached a new level of intensity, the boy took a turn down another alleyway. Just before he broke the barrier between the alley and the road in his little bare feet, he hesitated, but only for a moment, as if unsure what to do. He strained his face in contemplation and confusion. And then, a sudden dawn of realization fell upon him. Right foot first, he stepped onto the line. Instantly the whole scene in my eyes was ripped backwards as my head whipped back damn near touching my neck. I saw straight up into the sky. The fog was speeding behind me, as if being sucked up by something, and a strong, and undeniably black darkness followed it. Complete darkness, no shred of light, none whatsoever. The evil world just beyond the terror of the fog. Hell. The boy acknowledged and smiled, continuing his unknown excursion into the dark alleyway, leaving the angel's nipping at his heels.

Reluctantly, I followed him. It seemed foolish I know, but I'm here for a reason I can deduce that much. The darkness was too much for me, I couldn't see a thing. I had to rely on the tiny patter of the young boys footsteps splashing on the damp alley floor. It began to rain. The boy continued forward in the darkness, drawn like a magnet to whatever it was he was seeking, a small giggle erupting from his tiny mouth now and then and muttering words in some unknown language.

The rain lessened to a mere drizzle with monolithic echoes throughout the closed quarters. Instead of tiny patters of feet I instead heard the metallic clinking of metal on metal. I looked down, we're on a fencelike walk. I wobbled up and down for a few seconds, daring myself to test its stability. Up I went with and down too like a trampoline. Suddenly, from exactly below erupted an piercing shrieking cry of pain and agony. A male's voice, distorted, though, almost to the point of no recognition. It screamed again, shattering my nerves like glass. Louder, painful sobs of attempted atonement. More voices echoed throughout the underground. Screams, unbearable, mind scratching screams like they were being tortured, women, children, men, dogs? The damp and moldy concrete walls thinned out into a makeshift barbwire fence, mangled cadavers impaled upon them, hanging there to remind them for their sins. Their punishment? Their faces were rotted and distorted to the climactic point to where making out that the expressions did in fact belong to that of a human an extremely difficult task set at hand. Fresh gusts of blood pouring out of their mouths like a waterfall, falling on the ground like a faucet and down the sewer pipes which were conducting a faint bright light. The screams continued regularly. People begging for help from something, what could be down there? What can make someone beg and scream like that? The more I thought of the question, the more I tried to intensely avoid it. I ignored it.

Eventually as I followed the thing, overhead a matted section, almost like a ceiling, appeared of barbwire. Bodies of fallen birds and children lay twisted up. Intestines hanging down, a hand with fresh blood dripping of a torn finger exposing bone, and a baby's head impaled to almost the width of a pancake, it's brains coiling outwards, it's facial features bashed in violently. We were in a sort of barbwire fence rectangle pathway about three feet wide and about ten high. The sloshing of our feet increased as the water became ankle high, too much to pour down the sewers at once. It wasn't water though, as I had previously thought, it was blood. The blood pouring out of the victims of this hellish contraption. Bodies lay twisted in as if they were running from something. A song began to play in my head, a long smooth one, called "Promise", I've forgotten from where I heard it. It played along with the nerve splitting screams, the gushing blood, the mangle cadavers, the barbed wire cage and the demon child guiding me deep into the truth depths of hell. Not intense fire and heat and suffering, but loneliness, isolation, desperation, despair, loss, and pain. Into the darkness which man is condemned to traverse for ever for punishment for his most brutal and deadly sins. A psychological nightmare. The song picked up, a little more heavier than before. The raining blood picked up pace as we walked to Hell. The cage showed signs of giving in support and it bent downwards as crude stairs, bloody, etched out into thin air, beckoning us to step on them. He went first without them collapsing, blood pouring out and down each of them into tiny slithers of streams. The urge was too much too deny I began to descend the stairs into the madness, the darkness that lurks in our minds, ripping away at our sanity constantly begging to be free.

I went down, following my hellish guide and his devilish grunts and giggles. The screams became louder and more distinct and I was able to make out some of the voices; a woman. Heavier but still melodic.

"NOOOO, PLEEEAASEE! DOONN"TTT, I BEEGGGG YOOOUUU! Her scream was muffled off by a gagging noise and a earsplitting screen as a ripping noise echoed throughout her mind. No doubt about it, I know what happened to her, her skin was just ripped off. I heard the dead carcass land against a wall as it was thrown against it. Song continues with renewed vigor. Returns to begging slower and softer, the requiem for the wasted lives. Those who have died here for know reason at all.

The darkness never let up as we traveled downwards. I moved like a dull zombie, following my master, yet intently, strangely though, I seeing the human slaughterhouse which rested just at the bottom. New chord struck, piano picks up slowly accompanied by a melodic guitar and bass. I felt my head, the stickiness of the raining blood.

A chainsaw roared from somewhere as the song entered its climax. A whirring noise. Screams. Begs, pleads, everything you can imagine. A little girl this time, a little girl, just like Addie. The chainsaw revved up and I heard heavy, harsh footsteps approach the girl's voice. Her scream was instantly muffled by what sounded like some kind of scarf being forced over her mouth. I could still hear her though, her stifled cries and futile attempts to ward off her captor and the demon bearing the murderous chainsaw. Song enters a crescendo into a high note, piano, guitars continue regular beat. A stream of tears poured down my face. I fell to the stair, thrusting my head in-between my legs my hands over the top. Song getting louder and more violent. I rocked back and forth violently tears pouring out of my eyes and down my face falling into the blood. The chainsaw revved again. The girl's mouth partially became uncovered and she screamed,

"NOOO, MOOMMYYY!" The footsteps got closer to her, her voice died down. Song slows into rhythmic beautiful beat of piano and guitar. Stops. The chainsaw cut through her body. Her bones cracking, blood spurting against the walls. Loud Cracks and thuds as parts of her body went flying across the walls.

"NO!" I screamed. "You Batards, how could you! How the HELL Could You?" Song starts over from beginning, sad and depressed. I fell face forward but the child stopped me. He looked at me happily, like he was enjoying the torture and the deaths, the blood, the darkness, their screams of pains before they were killed, brutally murdered! I sobbed uncontrollably, trying to find a leg to stand up on but I found none. My mind kept throwing nostalgic memories at me from every direction. I saw Addie, as clear as day, playing outside, rolling in the flowers, smiling, laughing. I hear the screams of that poor girl who was just shredded apart by some madmen. What the hell is going on? What the hell is going ? What the bloody hell does this all mean? What possible explanation can you give me for this God? Huh? And no I don't want anymore of you damn bullshit! Why don't you tell the truth this time, if the world is perfect like you say, then what the hell is this! You bastard! How can you just let that little girl die like that? Why the hell did you even give her the blessing of a life when you would just take it away from her in the most brutal of ways, you bastard!

I broke down, started to cry even more, yelling, kicking, punching, screaming inaudible words, childish words not meant to make sense, but said just to……. All the while the madness never stopped countless victim's continued to be slaughtered and there's isn't a damn thing I can do about it. Oh no. No! The poor little girl! Why'd she have to be? Newfound anger erupted in my veins and directed my violence towards the first person I saw, the demon that is wearing my face. The little boy, with the sadistic smile and pleasurable look in his eyes. I grabbed him by the neck, sinking my nails deep into the sides of his throat, warm blood spilling out over my fingers. He showed no reaction to what I did, he merely started to laugh and giggle. I screamed harder, harder, and harder. I was up in his neck to my knuckles, blood shooting out of him like a shaken pop bottle or a wine bottle. He showed no reaction. Song continues as my depression deepens. I'll kill him.

I squeezed both hands in an instant and one and only rush of energy and severed his neck apart. A volcano of sticky blood erupted from where his head once belonged. It fell down the stairs echoing each thud it made on the barbwire stairs as it fell down into the abyss.

I fell down to my knees, barbwire permeating its way into my skin. It hurt like hell but I paid it no mind, how could this tiny pain possibly compare to having your body mingled by a ruddy chainsaw. It means nothing, it's the dollar in a rich man's pocket. Just as my eyes felt exhausted and dehydrated a new burst of warm tears blew out of them and down my face, cleaning off the blood of the other me.

The corpse of the demon child arose, animated by some unknown source, unseen, deep in the abyss. It's head stumbled back up the stairs with unbearable scraping noises as it made its way to its owner which now stood a stair below where I stood. The head floated back up the neck and twisted on like a screw, a twisted smile on the thing's face. After it reconfigured itself it continued down the stairs, like this whole last fifteen minutes was a well needed break in a lengthy run. And by that same urge I felt compelled to follow him, down, down, down, the murder stairs of hell.

As we continued farther and I still struggled with the emotional implications of the sudden death of the innocent little angel by the most gruesome ways. A faint light, barely noticeable at first that I didn't even notice began to etch itself well down into the darkness, a rectangle with elongated widths. It seemed from where we stood about another good four miles but lights in the darkness are deceiving. We continued down. The rain heightened again, that sad song still playing in my mind, yet growing fainter and fainter and become more static as I traversed down the bloody stairs. More screams erupted from the bottom somewhere as many more were mercilessly killed for damn logical reason. More bodies, a lot more became tangled up in the wire in the most awkward positions. The stairs had been too much for them, whatever they were running from they took a jump and landed diagonally legs first, head first, all positions, and somehow the bodies, while they looked terribly old and rotted, were still spurting tremendous amounts of blood from them, new blood, fresh. I I know this isn't some sort of sick joke, the blood it's real, I would know, I've been around it a lot. When I was younger, when my mother would make me feel absolutely terrible about being the way I was, and mocking me, teasing me, calling me a "freak" I would satiate my anger towards her by cutting myself in any place you can thinks of. Wrist, legs, toes, fingers, ear, the back of my neck. I would sit there and play in the blood and breathe off the intense pain for I know that my mother would never be the one to cause me the most pain, I wouldn't allow her the pleasure of treating me like a dog. No, I did that myself, and I feel guilty as hell about doing it.

We went deeper and deeper. Eventually the song faded away and the blood rain stopped. The barbwire fences on all sides slowly became pressed up against a rock and dirt wall. A caved in wall, layered with missing and thick heavy boulders. The screams were muffled and the bodies slowly began to disappear. My tour guide moved onward. A light seemed to be coming from no where showed up, just glowing. The steps turned into hard rocky one. Thank god, we were finally wherever the hell it was that we were now; the underground. I took the steps reassuringly that I wouldn't fall through or that the sight of mutilated corpses and the shrieks of pains from the victims haunting me anymore. One step passed and…

The light vanished and once again we were immersed in darkness. The steps became narrower and narrower, tiny chips of clay and dust breaking off the edges as I walked on them until I fell face first into an icy cold pool of water face first. I didn't float thought, I just fell face down, down , down, like a rock into the darkness, unable to breathe struggling to gasp for air, but inhaling nothing but cold water, I choked on it and nearly drowned when I began to float back to the surface, still face down. My face tingled with numbness and the burgeoning of death. I looked deep into the water and saw the smile of my little sister, Addie, and the horrible pain stricken face off the girl who had been cut apart with the chain saw. Blood was spilling down her face, it split in half, the bottom part sliding under the top and that falling sideways exposing her skull, brains, and a burst of fresh blood. Her cold, lifeless hand floated up towards me, it was on its own, a stand alone mission, it detached itself at the wrist, a green blur of the water behind it. Like the wake left from speedboats on a lake. The strange rumbling and uneasiness in my stomach returned. I turned over and spit up a hell of a lot of water, in it I tasted the familiar taste and scent of blood and puke. I crawled up to an edge. Barb wire fence again, I was in a cage, a perfect square with a tiny square in the floor revealing a pool of dark water. The path continued on, the faint light could still be seen which marked the end of our journey through true terror. My little friend was waiting just ahead for me. We set off again down the path of darkness. The rain, the screams, the dead bodies all restored to their former glory. I couldn't take it anymore. At that very moment I snapped. I pushed the monster in head of me aside and ran down the rest of the stairs. I don't know why I did that, but some feeling of hatred towards the monsters down there, I wanted to make them suffer, maybe to avenge that little girl, I don't know but all I know is that it seemed right at the time but later turned out to be a decision I would deeply regret.


	4. Chapter 4: In The Room Of Night

Chapter Four: In The Room Of Night

I stood there, waiting just outside the large door leading into the room. A faint glow of yellow light was permeating through the edges in small amounts. The door was cold to the touch. Some sort of heavy metal, extremely flat and soft as well. I couldn't find any trace of a handle as I ran my hand over it.

The little boy continued to stand next to me, expressionless and cold. The barb wire was at its last extremity here. It was clumped all around us and made just enough leeway for the door which protruded out of the wall. Unlike the other parts, this place was clean, void of all blood or cadavers. Also, it lacked the rancid smell of the previous path. No noise came from the room before us. Nothing. I pressed my ear against the metal, an icy feeling spreading through my body, numbing me. Still nothing. But wait, there is something. A faint rustle and shuffling, feet maybe. Somebody must be walking inside there. But who? The source of the noise showed no sign of recognition that there were visitors spying on him, or whatever it is.

The child standing next to me began to move. His movements were almost robotic, as if he was programmed to do what he was doing. He pushed me aside, into the wall, sending tiny throbs of pains throughout my body as the barb wire found its home in the flesh of my back. I could feel the warm sticky blood slowly begin to trickle down my back. What he did next I can't tell you for I was to occupied with the barb wire in my back than what he was doing at the moment. The next thing I knew there was a bright flash of light accompanied by a large metallic creaking noise and then completely darkness. The door was opened.

The room hiding behind the door was completely dark. It showed no evidence of there ever being light in it. Then what was glowing on the rims of the door? There wasn't any noise also, just the small footsteps of the child walking in. The echoes that bounced of the walls and ceiling made it sound as if there was a whole army in there, marching into the middle of some battle fought for no concrete reason.

I stood there in a confused and dazed stupor, unwilling to go inside the room. If I'm correct, this has to be the room where all those poor souls were tortured and killed. The battle in my mind resulted in me losing as my foot, against my will, stepped into the room, the other following. I had no control over them.

The floor was hard and showed no signs of the apparent slaughter. The blood, bones, bodies, flesh, all of it, was absent. I was about three steps in when my eyes adjusted minimally to the darkness. I could see what appeared to be faint outlines of monolithic cocoons swaying back and forth from the ceiling. As I strained my eyes to see I found that they were suspended by lengths of ropes, tied around a bulge at the top of them which was obviously their heads. It was wrapped around and tied like a noose. Their were dozens of the creatures occupying the upper part of the room. Their bodies descended down until they were about only three feet from the ground. They were everywhere, the thickness of them prevented me from seeing any of the walls of the room. I walked slowly and cautiously up to the closest one.

It's face was covered in stained bandages save for the dark hole which was its mouth. Faint circles of eyes could be seen through the bandages as well, seeing as it was torn in some places, swaying at the side. The rest of its body was wrapped up in what appeared to be a cocoon straight jacket. Parts of its body bulged out through the thick cloth. It's arms and back ascended outward like the legs on a spider. Its entire body pulsed from time to time, and a strong and warm air penetrated through its mouth. This one and the rest were covered in massive amounts of chains and padlocks which wrapped around their bodies loosely and tightly at places. Some chains were broken and lay dangling and swaying at their feet. I walked forward, twisting my body in all directions, careful not to touch the hanging bodies or make the smallest of noises for fear of awakening them. A small voice in my mind told me that once they awoke their chains and nooses probably wouldn't hold them. As I continued forward, trying to find my guide, following his faint footsteps in the distance, I witnessed a horrifying discovery. There were lumps of chains lying on the ground in places and some strewn about like snakes. There were empty sacs swaying from the ceiling, large tear marks in the cloth were the things emerged from, the noose ripped impatiently and hanging from the distance of the ceiling which until now I didn't realize was extremely high as I couldn't see the top. Hundreds of feet up maybe.

I stood there in terror, the thought of mangled bodies running around the room towards me consuming me up. A small bead of sweat fell down my forehead, I wiped it away, determined not to be bothered by the mere thought of it.

As I approached the end of the hellish room, I became relived. No encounter with the loose monsters had taken place. I hadn't even heard them moving about. The child was there waiting for me at door leading to the next room. The same expressionless look.

The door leading to what was next was familiar. It was your average wooden door with a golden knob. He opened it up and walked into the darkness. I hesitated, there's no way in hell I'm going through that door. The darkness coming out of it was unparalleled. Also, as he opened the door a unbearable burst of heat swarmed out and hit me in the face, and from the depths within there came a small whirring noise, like an engine or a generator. And, much like before, I was drawn in against my will. I was truly scared now.

My feet carried me in about fourteen or so steps, right behind the child. We stood there for a few moments in the darkness for some reason. He appeared to be unsure of what to do next. As we stood there, the heat in the room became intolerable, and I started to sweat intensely. The child in front of me didn't appear to be affected by it though. I could still feel the mist of coldness coming off his body, like an open freezer. The whirring noise matured into a massive static, the same noise as before and its source became apparent. It was coming from the right corner of the room, just ahead of us.

I walked towards it, determined to find out just what it was, but something cold and lifeless grabbed onto my arm and squeezed hard. It was the child. His features became visible as a light from somewhere in the room slowly began to gain strength. The cold, apathetic, and expressionless look was gone and replace with a look a deep terror which distorted his face making it look inhuman. He was shaking violently, his grip on me getting tighter as more light flooded into the room. His eyes met mine, dark and cold they were. But as the seconds passed they became more lifelike as color flooded into them. A loud noise came from the corner of the room, the same as the static. The child let go of me and cowered back into the dark part of the room, the safety. I stood there staring at the corner where the noise came from and the static was at. That was where the light was originating from. A lantern of some sort and a small circular orange light a few inches above it. At that time, a familiar strong scent flooded into my nose.

The light began to move and approach me. Like the child I backed into the darkness as well. Finding my place against the cold wall on the opposite side of the room. The light moved closer, illuminating the room. It was bare, the walls were old and moldy. They were stained with rust and dirt which descended from the low ceiling. Chunks off the wall were missing and found their place on the floor.

The light was being guided by someone, but what was holding the light was nothing but a mere shadow behind it. Only its hands were visible, grotesque and malformed. Bone was exposed through the rotting flesh. The creature placed the light on a fixture on the ceiling in the middle of the room. The moment the lantern was placed on the hook with a tiny thud, the child let out a loud whimper which caused the shadow to look our way. Luckily the pool of light ended feet away and we remained inconspicuously in the darkness. A few seconds of looking our direction he gave up all worry and returned to the static corner. The circular orange light reappeared once the figures footsteps faded away. As we stood there, waiting for God knows what, a faint smoke began to fill the room. And then it dawned on me, the smoke, the circular light. Now it was blatantly obvious if it wasn't before. A cigar, my father used to smoke them. Slowly I gained confidence and emerged from the darkness not expecting what happened to actually happen.

"Well, hello there." A scruffy, male's voice said to me from the corner of the room. As he said it, the child gave another whimper. I was too surprised to answer him. He inhaled more of the cigar and blew it out, the cloud of new dark smoke stopping only millimeters from my face. He sighed and continued.

"Don't feel like talking much Darren, I can understand that." He said in another exhalation of strong acidic cigar smoke. I finally answered him, not knowing what to expect. I don't think this person is human, no normal person would ever dare live in a hell hole like this and if they did, there's no way in hell they'd be able to survive.

"Ummm, who are you?" I said defiantly, not realizing until later how stupid it sounded.

"Hah, you seem to be the one paying me a visit." He said with a laugh. He coughed a little and spit to the side of him. He still remained in the darkness as I stood under the intense glow of the lantern above me. I gave no answer, unsure what to say.

"Ahh, I see, he must've brought you here." He said. I couldn't see him but I felt pretty sure that he was pointing at the cowering child behind me.

"Yes, he did." I said, my voice cracking with nervousness.

"Well, I'm not sure what to say." He said. What the hell is he talking about, surely he must know why I was brought here. Before I could answer him, he continued, not talking to me though but rather to the child.

"Come here boy." He said angrily. The child behind me whimpered again but showed no sign of movement.

"I said come here!" He said near screaming. Instantly I thought of the hanging creatures in the other room, suspended in their catatonic state. I was going to warn him of the danger of his loud voice but then remembered that he must know, but in the most part I was stopped by the emergence of the child out of the darkness. He came out staggering about, afraid of anticipation. It was at that moment that I realized that the child must know this strange man, therefore he must have a reason to be afraid of him. I shuddered at the mere thought.

The child spoke before the man could and surprisingly I could understand him, he no longer spoke an undistinguishable language.

"I'm sorry." He said, barely audible. His voice was very light and feminine, that of a young boy's. Tears were spilling off his face on the floor. My eyes began to water as well as more smoke filled the room.

"Yeah." The man said in an angry laugh. He continued.

"Can't do anything right." He mumbled to himself and then he addressed me again. " Well, I'm sorry Darren. But it's apparently now or never thanks to this little bastard." he pointed at the child.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, the first question on my list of thousands.

"Ahh, I knew you wouldn't know yet." He said sighing. I was beginning to get annoyed. It was then that he emerged from the darkness. He was dressed entirely in black, black pants, shirt, and shoes. His tie sticking out like a sore thumb, a creamy silver color. He had a black hat on as well, a rather large one pulled down just above his eyes, casting a dark shadow over his face. This shadow covered up his facial features rather well preventing me from seeing him. A cane rest in his hands, wooden and smooth. A silver necklace hung around his neck, a golden heart at the end of it.

"Is that all you intend to ask. Must not be very perceptive I see." He said laughing.

"What! I have a lot to ask mind you." I said angrily, not much paying attention to my choice of words. He smiled.

"Well then."

"Well first of all, where the hell am I."

"Mmm, I'm sorry but I can't tell you that." he said. That got me angrier. What a bunch of crap, a clichéd movie saying.

" Okay then, what about those damn things outside, hanging from the walls, what the hell are those." I said. He smiled.

"Oh, you can see those too, I can't really answer that question. But I can tell you this. It would be best to stay away from them." The words only made me angrier. Stay away?

"What about all that screaming I heard, the chainsaw, the pathway leading to hear! All the dead bodies, the blood, that rain! What the hell is going on?" I screamed. The minute the words left my mouth a horrendous beating noise started on the door. The static noise increased tremendously and distorted mumbles could be heard from the outside. We all looked across the room at the door. I, much like the child was scared, but he strange man smiled.

"Well there you have it. You've awoken them. Those are the creatures hanging, or to put it more accurately, those are the ones that hatched. Best stay away. They're attracted to light and darkness." he said as he moved to the center of the room and extinguished the light. The minute the room delved into darkness the noise from outside the room stopped.

"You see?" He said. I just stood there in the darkness confused as ever. The static noise went down into just a low whirring again and a faint rush of cool air swept across the room. A door opened at the other side and the man walked out, I followed him. The door was closed when I got to it and from the other side I heard the faint sound of footsteps in fresh earth. I opened the door and stepped out.

I was in a forest drenched in fog. The faint shadow of the man in the distance, walking slowly towards some unknown destination. I set out after him but as I walked through the fog I began to lose sight of the trail, everything became blurry and began to spin around. I became dizzy, a strong headache permeated my head and I blanked out.

I awoke in a hospital bed, warm and cozy. Sunlight pouring in through the window and the sound of mockingbirds filling the room. A dream, it was only a dream?


	5. Chapter 5: Is She An Angel?

Chapter Five: Is She An Angel?

That was about seven weeks ago and is the last of the nightmares that I could remember, the rest are gone, I fear, forever, like so much other things. They've all pretty much stopped for some reason. Everything, the nightmares, hallucinations, no more. It seems I'm finally normal. But that doesn't stop them. They still put me down and criticize me for they remember what I was, it isn't easy forgetting something like that.

It was them who put me in the hospital. They beat the hell out of me as I was on my way to pick up m sister for her school play. Her first one, and she didn't get to go to it because of me. I don't remember too much of what happened, it was all so fast. I can still see the flash of metal, their delightful faces, the blood, the pain. It never leaves my memory. This is something, I fear, that will stay with me forever.

Ever since I was little it was like this, I never once had what closely resembles the definition of a friend. Sure, I may have thought so back then in my ignorance, but now I know better. I see through that fallacy now but back then it was different. Still though it happens, although they mostly avoid me, there are times every now and then when they feel the need to act violence out on me. But it has happened recently. When I got out of the hospital, I gave my little sister one last kiss goodbye and I left this place. Upon looking back everything is unclear even to me so in an effort to truly understanding my past I will start from here.

First of all, I lived in a small town in New York, I forget the name. It was a small peaceful little hell hole surrounded by luscious valleys and hills. A perfect little community which didn't accept outsiders. We moved in after our father died, just my mother and my sister and me. A normal white house in your average normal neighborhood. A small house, we didn't have very much money. My mother felt she was above having a job. The people in this town were absolute horrid trash. Not so much the way they lived but their views and opinions. Sure my mother and sister were well accepted by them but me, well that's just another story. They treated me like an animal, everyone, except for my sister. There's only been two people that have ever treated me like a human and she was one of them.

We moved in around the end of August. School began just a few weeks afterward at the beginning of autumn. A beautiful place it was too, but the people ruined it. These people knew nothing of empathy or sympathy hell even kindness, these lay in the dirt. Too them the most important values were criticism, hate, and anger. This community existed as its own world, and the rest of the population were aliens to them. When school started I thought that I would never be happy again. From the moment I set foot in that hell I was constantly put down and hurt by the other students while the teachers gave an apathetic glance.

Life at home wasn't too much of a walk in the park either. From the minute I walked through that damn door to the minute I went to bed I was constantly harassed and hounded by my mother. The only happiness and pity I got was from my sister, who was only a few years younger than me. I must've been about eleven at the time so she was around eight or so. My room was void of any pleasurable items save for a small lamp and makeshift bed on the floor, it was a bunch of boxes put together with blankets over them. My mother said since I was barely a person I didn't need stuff that any other kids did.

That was what life was like for the next seven years, the same old crap. Hell, I'm surprised I was even allowed to live with my mother and she wasn't thrown in jail for neglect, but hey, who's going to turn her in in this town, they saw her as a God for the way she dealt with me.

But on that night, I met someone who changed my life drastically forever. An angel, that was my first thought upon seeing her. She had to have been an angel. She was absolutely beautiful. Bright golden hair descended down to her shoulders, odd, lovely green eyes, pure perfection. She seemed out of place in this world. This fake world. That's what it is, the so called real world isn't real at all. I saw her there as I was walking home to take Addie back to school. She was on the opposite side of the road as me but walking in the same direction. She was floating, an aura of goodness surrounding her. She had on a pink blouse and a white skirt.

I saw her looking at me constantly, trying to get my attention, but I was too embarrassed to even look her way, save for the brief glances out of the corner of my eye. It was getting dark out, the sun began to hide from the darkness. The crickets began their nightly song and she faded away in the darkness, disappeared. It was then that I began hitting myself because I assumed that it was once again another hallucination. I began to walk home, disappointed. That's when a large truck passed, windows down, hip hop music blaring, packed to the rim with high school students. The truck slowed as it passed me, the people inside pointed and said something. It passed, I was relieved. And then without warning I heard the screeching of tires behind me as the truck did a U turn and drove at me. I looked back just in time as I saw that it was driving on the shoulder of the road towards me. Just in time, I dove into the grass and dirt besides me, cracking my nose a large, sharp rock.

The truck stopped right beside me and the people flooded out in swarms, yelling and screaming delightfully. I was their pray, fresh food for the evening darling. It's been so long since I've tasted flesh so nice and juicy. Perfection, sweetheart we ought to have some to-morrow night as well. I didn't even want to see what they were going to do. I dived my head into the dirt and covered it with my hands, bracing myself for their most brutal desires. They finally got me.

It was terrible, they hit me with everything they had, fists pummeling into my back, feet kicking at my head and ribs, metal pipes waling on me, cutting into my flesh. They came down on me over and over again. Stopping only once they thought I was dead. To them I was the monster. My whole body ached, cuts and bruises everywhere, in my leg I could feel a bone penetrating through my skin. And the blood flowed. I lay there for God knows how much time. Every time I inhaled and exhaled, sharp pains pierced throughout my body. This was pain. This is what animals must feel like as they're being torn to pieces to meet the greedy desires of the disgusting humans. Night came, the null moon in full glow. I lay there crying to myself as I was dying inside. It was then that I left my body, never to return again. Reborn, my delusions overdosed and finally withdrawing away. I don't even remember when or even how it was that I got to the hospital, a miracle if I must say so.

The next thing I remember was awakening in the hospital to my vile mother and sweet sister. That was the last time I saw her, and I felt guilt as hell for leaving her. I left the only good thing left in the world in the grip of that town and its hellish inhabitants. I sure hope she's all right.

What prompted me to leave the safety of the hospital was the appearance of that girl again. This time I was sure that she was real and not just another delusion. Feeling empowered with my new body, I set out after her. She seemed to notice me thought, and she ran, not for fright though, but rather playfully, daring me to catch her. I ran after her through the hallways, knocking nurses and carts over, sending the floor into disarray but I didn't care. The only thing I cared about was meeting that angel.

I followed her straight to the exit, not even caring that I was half naked in a hospital gown. It was nighttime, peacefully cool, the stars bright in the sky. A perfect night. This was the only time that I ever felt safe in the darkness. She disappeared again. I was left there alone in the darkness, dishearten again. As I was dying in despair in the bench just near the hospital entrance she appeared again, right in front of me. She stood there for a second looking at me smiling and then she bent over.

"Hi there! What's wrong?" She asked in the most absolute cutest voice, smiling. I stood there staring at her for the longest time. She didn't seem to notice it though, thank God.

"Hello, are you going to talk?" She asked, still smiling as cute as ever. My face turned red and warm.

"Umm, I'm sorry. I'm fine." I said avoiding her eyes. She frowned and sat down besides me.

"Isn't it beautiful out. I haven't seen so many stars out in years. It's very pretty." She said. I love this girl.

"Yea, neither have I, the only other time was…" I didn't dare go on. The other time the night was as pretty as this was when I saw her last that night on the side of the road. Does she remember? I looked over at her. Still looking up at the stars, the glow of the light brightening her face, giving it a bluish tint. I'm at a loss for words. I've never seen anyone so pretty in my life. She looked over at me, smiling. Instantly I threw my face downward and started to look at the ground.

"By the way, I never got your name." She said.

"Umm it's Darren." I said nervously. I was never particularly good at talking to people, seeing as I didn't do it much, especially a girl. I once read somewhere that on average someone speaks about fifty thousand words in one day. Hell, for me that would be like twenty words a week, ha ha.

She stuck her hand out towards me as she said, "It's a pleasure to meet you Darren, my name is Kara." I stood there for a brief moment, not sure of what to do. I'm not used to this, kindness.

"Well are you going to take my hand?" she said to me. I grabbed it without saying a word. The minute our hands touched, she grabbed me up on my feet. I frantically tried to wrap the robe around me. She saw that and giggled.

"Oops, I'm sorry, I've forgotten." She said smiling and giggling as she grabbed from under the bench a pile of clothes, my clothes.

"Where did you..?" The words barely left my mouth when she put her finger over my lips and said "Shhh, just get dressed already." She turned around, her hair hitting me the face. I wasted no time and inhaled deeply, it smelled of heavenly lilacs. She went around the corner as I got dressed. I wonder how she got these? They should have been at home. Heh, these were the clothes I bought with the money I saved up. Good clothes. The whole lot of them nearing six hundred dollars. Nice brown dress pants, a very light gray dress shirt, a white undershirt, and the pair of expensive black glossy dress shoes. Heh, I like dressing like this, I don't know why. A sense of normalcy I guess, away from the rags my mother made me wear while I lived with her. As I was putting my pants on I noticed something in my pocket. A necklace came out in my hands. Silver chain and a golden heart. Wait a minute. Is this….. Yes, this is the necklace that man was wearing in my dream. How did it get here?

Just as I threw my hair out from behind my collar, Kara came around the corner smiling

"All ready." She said playfully. I smiled, she's so cute. It's those eyes. An unnatural color.

"Yea." I said smiling looking into her eyes. She walked over and grabbed my hand again.

"Come on, lets' go." She said. I followed her without hesitation.

We walked out onto the road leading away from the hospital in the mystic nighttime. I wasn't sure where she was leading me and when I asked her she wouldn't answer me. She would just smile and say hold on. Eventually we came to a street corner, completely littered with bums and graffiti, too think, I was treated worse than these drug addict losers. It was then that a feeling of protection for her urged throughout my body. This place was dangerous, obviously. I tugged at her hand in an effort to slow her down.

"Wait a minute Kara, this road isn't safe." I said as she looked over her shoulder, trying to figure out what was wrong. After I said that she laughed and smiled.

"Ohhh, you don't need to worry at all bout me." She said reassuringly. Not worry about her? How the hell could I not worry about her.

"What do you mean, look at the street we're on." I said a little more urgently. She didn't respond though. And later I realized that nothing was going to happen. No one even noticed us. We turned down another street, the same as before, dirty and disgusting. Why are we in this part of town? I was about to ask her when she stopped walking and my question was answered. A bus station, she was taking me somewhere away from here, an angel she was indeed.


	6. Chapter 6: Welcome To Paradise

Chapter Six: Welcome To Paradise

She took me away and gave me a new life. And for that I thank her. But in some ways, and I hate to say this, she was responsible for everything that happened. She took me to a cozy little resort town in northern Maine. A little town called Silent Hill. It was then that I started to question who she really was.

She seemed to have enough money for an apartment just south of the lake. The lake was called Rosewater, very cute little place, and the park overlooking it, absolutely lovely. Our apartment was in a building called Blue Creek, just next to another apartment building, Woodside was the name if I recall correctly. It was a nice and comfortable little apartment, very nice, and _very _expensive. She decorated with the oddest assortment of furniture and paintings, not to mention a lot of candles and flowers, which made the room smell just like a nice peaceful and quiet heaven.

Life in Silent Hill was unlike anything I've ever experienced ever before. The people here are extremely religious and nice, humility is above all else to them. But the one thing that was detrimental to this new happiness was the excess of times that seemed to fall into my hands, like a bird shot dead out of the sky. Boredom got me thinking about the past, and with my new mind I was able to break through the barrier separating the two of us, the people in the same body, the other me. Without any problem I was able to locate and file my memories at my pleasure and witness past scenes I never knew even existed.

One of them, the most prominent one, the one I couldn't force to the back of my mind no matter how hard I tried, it occurred around ten years ago. I was eight at the time. It happened back when my father was still alive, before my mother killed him.

It was still when we lived in our older house, in the nicer town. My mother and father were having a fight about me again. Still my father favoring me and my mother abusing me. The fight was about school, if I recall correctly.

"Jean, he can't go to that school anymore. First of all its damn embarrassing, and second he's too goddamn dumb too understand any of the material!" I recall my mother saying in the kitchen as I hid behind the stairs listening.

"What the hell is going on with you Lisa, you used to love that boy, love him like you should, like a mother, now you don't care for him anymore, you treat him like a piece of crap and its not right!" My father yelled back in an effort to defend me.

"Your right I do because that is exactly what he is. He's one of God's little mistakes and I won't bear it any longer!"

"One God's mistakes, oh please Lisa don't bring God into this. With the way you live your life you're surely going to go to hell.:

"Heh, me! I'm not going to go to hell. I'm a good Christian, at least I've been trying to do the right thing, while you sit on your ass and act as if he's normal!"

"A good Christian? How do you even have the courage to call yourself that? God hates sinners like you Lisa. The boy is one of God's creations and God doesn't make mistakes. Just because he made a mistake with you doesn't mean he made a mistake with Darren." My father said, this extremely upset my mother and she said, before leaving the room,

"You bastard, you'll see in the end." She walked passed me and stopped. I could see that she was angry, extremely angry. Her face always turned an intense crimson color and her hands contorted when she was really angry. She said something, or more accurately, tried to say something but her anger made it absolute impossible before her. Her hand raised and traveled through the air desperate to hit my face. I ducked and her hand missed me and went smashing into the wall, her nails digging out chips of paint. This really pissed her off, she was a freak about the condition of her house and always got angry at the smallest things, tiny crumbs on the counter, barely unnoticeable fingerprints on the wall, a few strands of hair in the bathtub, you name it.

I started to crawl up the stairs, still facing my mother. I only got about one stair up when she grabbed my head and slammed it into the stair. She then started punching me, she wasn't very good at it though. Instead of hard and steady blows I was pelted by a hurricane of slicings and cuts by her nails. This type of pain is the worst. My face was cut open, she ripped through my clothes, digging at my body with her long nails. I spared a look at her face, a monster was my first thought. Her eyes were distorted as was her mouth and nose. Her skin was stretched in its last extremity and her eyebrows were nearing the top of her head. She continued and no one came to help not even my father, he was too afraid of her. And the one time he did dare to interfere he was killed. I loved him very much, much more than your average son would love his father. What's surprising is at that time I hated everyone, all humans, I found them disgusting and dirty creatures, inferior to every other living thing. But him, he was different. He wasn't a human, he was a god to me.

"Hey Darren, whatcha' doing !" A happy voice said in my ear. It was Kara. She sprang up on the bed next to me.

"Oh just thinking." I replied rather dully.

"Thinking, you've been doing an awful lot of that lately haven't you? What are you thinking about now?" he said smiling as she twirled a curl of brighten golden hair in-between her fingers.

"Not much, my family." I said as I turned towards her.

"Your family? You haven't told me much them. Do you miss them?" She asked me sounding worried and concerned. How cute, I thought. This girl is something else, I'll tell you that.

"No not much, only my little sister." I said, Addie appearing in my mind, wearing the costume she had to wear in the play she didn't even get to go to.

"Mmm, you never told me you had a little sister, tell me about her please!" She asked me laughing. God she's cute.

"All right, she's about four years younger than me and absolutely beautiful, just like you. I feel bad though because the last time I saw her she was really disappointed because I was supposed to take her to a school play but that night I got into a fight walking home to pick her and she missed out." I said in practically one breath.

"Ohhhh, how cute." she said frowning. That made me sad, having to think about Addie again, not knowing what she's doing right now or what she's like. I miss her so much.

"Yea." I said staring at the wall blankly. A few moments passed in silence. Then Kara grabbed my hand and pulled me off the bed, I nearly fell over too.

"I know, c'mon let's go down to the park, it's a beautiful day and it will be terrible if we just let it fade away." She said as she dragged me into the other room and out the apartment.

The park was only about a ten minutes walk away and we started down the street. A lot of people were out surprisingly. Kara was right, it was an absolute brilliant day out. The sun was high in the bright blue sky, a nice comfortable cool breeze was blowing about, and the fresh smell of lake water and flowers filled the air.

When we got there we found a small secluded spot just near the water's edge. Kara had a small blanket with her and she spread it out over the grass. It was a pink cloth with small white flowers on it, they, in the most part, resembled iris's. She sat down and motioned for me to do the same. She was beautiful today. She was wearing a white blouse and brownish color blouse which descended down near her ankles. Her golden hair blew in the wind and her ever changing green eyes penetrated deep into mine.

The park was filled with people. Families out enjoying the weekend day. Couples out enjoying the lovely scenery. Kids swimming in the water. People fishing. Everything was completely normal. A small boy was playing with his dog. A golden retriever. He threw a Frisbee and the dog ran down the small hill towards the lake after it. He jumped in the air in an attempt to snatch it but failed and he went head first into the water while the Frisbee landed some two feet in front off him. His head popped out of the water and he swam towards the Frisbee.

A fisherman on a dock only a few feet away struggled as his pole was being bent over by a tugging fish in the water. He yelled at his buddy to come and help him. His friend was sitting in a fold up lawn chair sipping on a beer. When he saw the pole he hopped up excitedly and ran to help his friend. The tow of them had trouble getting the fish in. When it finally came up from the water they yelled in delight. It was massive, almost a foot long rock bass. They ran up their dock, the fishy still dangling on the line, flipping out wildly. They shouted for a camera in the direction of their cottage.

A couple just a few feet from us started to kiss. I instantly looked away out to the deep waters. A small mist was out in the middle of the lake and started to come closer to us. It gave the scene unparalleled brilliance, like it was taken straight out of a painting. I looked over at Kara, she was looking out at the lake as well, a sad smile on her face. She was upset by something.

"What's wrong?" I asked her. She looked at me and sighed.

"Oh, its nothing." She said as she grabbed my hand and lifted me to my feet along with her, her happy smile and pretty giggles returning.

"C'mon!" She said, "Let's go swimming!" She took off her blouse and skirt revealing a bikini. She came prepared, I didn't.

"I've got nothing to wear though." I said. She looked at me and laughed.

"Oh well, just come in in your boxers and shirt." She said right before she ran down to water's edge. She knew I didn't like taking my shirt off, but how? I never told her before. I took my pants off and put them down on the blankets upon her clothes. I walked down slowly and took my place beside her. She look dishearten.

"Oh, it's really cold." She said as she shivered. She put her foot in and yanked it out.

"Oh, come on, you're the one that wanted to go in." I said playfully. She looked at me and then grabbed my hand.

"Wait a minute, you might want to take that off." She said pointing at my chest. The necklace, the one with the heart on it. I started wearing it after that night constantly, I don't know why though. But this is the first time I wore it over my shirt instead of under it.

"Wait, is that a heart Darren?" She said laughing. My face turned red.

"Yes, it is." I said. She looked at me like she never did before. Her eyes changed color and she became terrifically pretty.

"Why are you wearing a heart on your chest Darren?" She said playfully. My face turned even redder, she noticed and seemed to be enjoying taunting me.

"I don't know, I found it my pocket the night we left Mansfield. That night at the hospital I found in my pants pocket." I said lost in thought as I remembered that day.

"Oooh, is that your girlfriend's?" She asked me lost in laughter. I never once had a girlfriend.

"No, I never had a girlfriend. Strange thing is, that previous night, before we left I mean. I had a dream and in it some man was wearing this." I said as I turned the golden pendant around in my hand.

"All right," she said as if she didn't believe me. "Hey, is that real gold?" Her eyes glowed with happiness as the locket glimmered in the sunlight. I never really bothered to check before. I never even thought of it before now.

"Ummm, I wouldn't know." I said not really caring, I mean if it was gold why would I care. She took the locket out of my hand as a breeze of cool air swept across the lake. The little kids in the water were splashing about and tiny droplets of water got caught in the wind and hit me in the face.

"It is!" She half screamed. "Almost pure too!"

"Wow, I guess I never bothered to check." I said to her. She didn't even hear me. She was too busy fussing over the locket. I could see the look of happiness in her face and my heart skipped a beat.

"You know what," I said as I took the chain off of me and put in her hand, "Here, it's yours." She nearly burst with happiness as she squealed and hugged me.

"Aww, thank you so much Darren!" She said in my ear.

"One condition though."

"Oh, and just what is that?" She asked playfully.

"You have to promise not to sell it." I said.

"Oh really. Don't worry I won't sell it Darren. I love it too much." She said as she ran over to the our stuff and stuffed it under everything. I don't know why but for some reason I felt that that pendant must have some deep significance.

She rushed back over towards me, stopping just before the water. She was still afraid of the coldness.

"Aren't you going to go in?" I said playing with her. She didn't look to happy though.

"No it's too cold." she said sadly.

"Oh, you know what?" I asked.

"And just what is that.?" she asked, some happiness returning. I

I didn't answer her. I grabbed her hand and ran into the water, pulling her in behind me. She cried out in shock and then started to laugh.

"Darren!" She said in a make-believe angry voice. She splashed water in my face and I returned the favor.

We sat there in the water for hours until dusk, about a foot away from the shore, the water up to our chests. The sunset was perfect from this view. The entire other side of the lake could be seen, the old homes, and the hills. Perfect setting. The sun was beginning to settle, slowly fading away behind the blue hills. The sky filled up with an orange and purple paint, I looked over at Kara. She was looking at the sunset, her face was covered in a happy and dazed look. Her skin was becoming a grayish blue as the sun set. The orange and purple gave way to grays and blues. Scattered lights in the sky appeared the more the sun went down. The moon appeared and the last of the sun vanished. The water lapped up against the rocks as Kara shivered and grabbed my hand, motioning for me to get up. We dried ourselves and got dressed and walked back to the apartment, deep in conversation. She was extremely happy as was I.

When we got back to our room she collapsed on her bed deep in sleep. I smiled as sat down next to her and pushed her hair out of her face. She's absolutely beautiful. I walked into my room, undressed and hopped under the covers. I fell asleep instantly and had wonderful dreams about the time at the park with Kara.

I awoke sometime during the night and ventured to my window and peered out into the dark town. The streets were empty and the only light came from the streetlights which cast a haunting glow on everything. I sighed, my breath leaving a mist on the window, and went back to bed. Not even remembering this in the morning.


	7. Chapter 7: Clockwork Little Happiness

Chapter Seven: Clockwork Little Happiness

The strange object slithered through my hands as I strained to clutch it. It made its way up the bed sheets as I contorted my hands to grab the thing. Every time I grasped it though it slithered away through my fingers. It was oily and greasy and was barely bigger than a half dollar. It found its place in the middle of my chest and dug down into me, like a worm burrowing down into the moist dirt on a rainy day. My insides began to boil and squirm about, the creature was eating me from the inside. No I wouldn't let it do that, I threw my hand down in the hole after it. I felt around in my stomach for it, burning my hand. I made way to my intestines and used my fingernails to dig away the flesh covering them up. I found the worm crawling around in there slowly eating me away. I grabbed it in between my thumb and forefinger and slowly pulled it out of my body, it writhed uncontrollable, trying to break away but I wouldn't let it. I brought the disgusting worm up to my eyes. Tiny needle like legs protruded from its underside in thousands of different places, it had no mouth or any eyes, just a scaly backside which exposed its insides. It cried out in pain as I tightly closed my fist, squishing the thing. I laughed at it in victory and then shoved it my mouth and swallowed it.

The loud sound of the TV in the next room woke me up. Without thinking I pressed both of my cold, sweaty hands up to my chest. I was relieved, there wasn't any hole. I don't know, that dream felt pretty real. Lately that's the way its been. Every dream that I've been having have begun to feel a little too real than they should have. It's getting harder and harder for me to tell the difference between reality and dreams now. As if the line separating them has somehow ceased to exist, allowing the two to mingle with each other causing catastrophic results.

Ughh, I feel terrible this morning. Unusual, quite frequently I feel extremely well in the morning. Covered in sweat from sleep, my hair tangled up, and my eyes sealed shut, I felt terrible. I had to literally rip the covers off from my sweaty, slimy, and sticky body. I undressed right on spot but that didn't cool me down at all. I walked over to the bathroom, my feet sticking to the soft carpet. Luckily my bedroom was connected to the bathroom. I knocked but no one answered, empty. I walked in and locked the door behind me.

The shower water was nice and cold, numbing my body as it slid down towards my feet. As it washed away the heat, my mind unclogged and my thoughts started delving into anything I could think of. Everything happening lately has been rather odd. The strange dreams became more frequent and disturbing though they were all horror based, nothing like the one the night at the hospital. The townspeople of Silent Hill started acting more strangely as well. Whenever I go out alone or accompanied by Kara they avoid us and avoid making eye contact with us. Kara really doesn't seem all too perturbed by it, by I am. It's bring up the dark past again. The anger and hate with it. I'm constantly hounded by remnants of memories of my mother and father, their fights, my beatings from her, and my father's murder.

Three years before we moved to Mansfield is when it happened, the night my father was murdered. It was on a Saturday night, I'll never forget that. Late at nigh during one of the routine fights about, you guessed it, me. I don't know what exactly it was about, the small details you know, because I was upstairs in my room hiding under my blankets in my dark room.

I heard their voices, but that's all. The noise was muffled by my walls. I guess they cared about the conversation too much to let me hear any of it. Protection for most parts, not for me, but for my damn mother. I didn't dare move from my bed at all for fear of being cut up by mother again and that Digger would emerge from my closet to get me again like He usually does the nights that my parents fought. He made sure I didn't hear them. I don't know why though. Why would he want to prevent me from hearing them? It's not like I would understand. Realization dawned on me at that moment, now, I could understand it all now. This is why he was protecting me, all this time I thought he was protecting my mother, but no it was me. A little too late Digger the Dog though.

Their screams got louder, I could hear my father more prevalently because of his deep voice but my mother's piercing shriek was almost just as loud. God, thinking back onto this now makes me wonder how the hell it was possible that they could've gotten away with all this screaming and shouting with the neighbors. I'm surprised the cops didn't show up at the door with a domestic call. You got me, I'll never figure that out.

The shouting awoke Addie in the next room, she was only four or five at the time. All this yelling couldn't have been good for her. Four years old and having to hear crap like this. Yet again my fault, I'm sorry Addie. Your life was hell because of me, well I hope its better now that I'm gone.

They didn't seem to hear her though, and that's surprising, my mother always fussed over Addie. Well, that's good, at least Addie has a good mother. The fight continued as I let my mind wander and eventually I fell asleep. When I awoke in the morning I crept downstairs hoping to sneak something to eat before my mother awoke. But once I reached the bottom of the stairs I realized that she was already awake, now I know that she was up all night. The horrid scene entered my eyes, the walls were splattered with blood as was the floor and all the furniture. I crept up to the kitchen and used the wall for cover. I peered over and saw my mother standing over a bloody lump on the kitchen floor. She had a large meat cleavers in both hands, deep at work slicing my father into pieces. That's where it ended, that's all that I could remember. I turned the shower knob letting the water slowly die out until nothing more came. I stood there, heavily breathing, my hands pressed again the wall and the glass shower door. Tears managed to escape from my tightly closed eyes. How could she? How could she do that to him, that monster!

I opened the door quickly and strongly, slamming on the rack. Stepping out into the cold bathroom. I didn't think much of what I was doing, I was in too much of a hurry. I dressed and walked out of the room and sat on my bed, lost in nothing at all. I just sat there dazed and confused, staring at the carpet. I'm unsure of what to do next. I know I have to do it by I don't really want to . Well, I guess it cant' be helped, I _have_ to know. I got up and left the room.

Kara was in the living room watching TV. She smiled at me as I passed her on my way to the door. She looked up at me forgetting what she was doing.

"Darren, where are you going?" She asked curiously.

"Don't worry. I'm just going for a walk. I'll be back in a few minutes." I said not even turning around to face her. This seemed to make her worry even more.

"Don't worry? If your just going for a walk why would you say that?"

"I don't know." I said, I really didn't feel like talking to her at this very moment.

"You're going to see her aren't you?" She said in a whisper, she knew this is a touchy subject.

"Yes." I said as I opened the door and stormed out the door slamming behind me.

Once outside I made my way to the bus station which was on the other side of town. Nearly a forty minute walk. Their were few people and cars out. They gave me that same feeling of rejection and fright as before. Man, what is their problem? Why do they look at me that way? Stop it!

The walk passed by quicker than it should have and the next thing I knew I was on a bus, straight through to Mansfield, fearing the moment I would have to confront her and learn the truth. The bus ride also passed by quicker than it should have. The bus was practically empty except for a tall man dressed in a black suit and hat. He sat towards the front, about the third row back. I chose a nice comfortable seat in the back. The bus was clean and smelled like lemons. The trip there wasn't very bad, nobody got on or off. I dozed off numerous times and awoke to feel the eyes of the man upon me. I looked away from him whenever that happened though. His eyes on me felt awkward, I didn't like it.

Finally we were there. It appeared the man and I got off at the same place. The street we got off in was in the center of Mansfield. It was very busy and he disappeared into the crowd as did I. Since we lived on the outskirts of town I got a cab, it was only about a twenty minute drive from there. We stopped in front of my old house, the same as ever, paint fading a little, but that was the only major difference. I gave the cabbie a hundred dollar bill to wait for me and that I would only be a second. I didn't expect him to be there when I returned though.

I walked up the path to our house in the morning mist. The moist ground under my feet squeaking as my shoes connected with it. The birds were singing there songs and the flowers were opening. No came from inside the house. I tried the handle. Locked as was expected. Screw it, I knocked on the door heavily. It was more like a banging though if you want to get down to the nitty gritty. I'm pretty damn angry at the moment and don't really care who I wake up. A few moments later I felt upset because I realized in doing this I would wake Addie up. Poor girl, hasn't she gone through enough already. Obviously not my dear.

A few seconds later and the door swung open revealing my mother. She was still in her nightgown, her gray hair messed about, her eyes covered in purple puffiness, but her anger was about as inconspicuous as a stain on a shirt. Her angriness turned to pure surprise and terror when she saw _me_ standing there on her doorstep in the early morning. She looked truly scared, but of what my dear, of me darling. But that look of fright was only momentary as she hid under her anger.

"And just what the ruddy hell do you think you're doing here!" She screamed in her banshee like voice.

"I'm here to see you mommy, now aren't you going to be a dear and invite me in to my own house. I've been out all night and I'm awfully tired. I'm so sorry I made you worry." I hugged her and went in, pushing her aside. She was too surprised at first to do anything, she just merely stood there dumbfounded. I went to the kitchen and poured myself a large glass of orange juice and sat down at the table, drinking it in small sips.

The woman which I so hate to call my mother made her way to the kitchen towards me. She grabbed the cup out of my hands and threw in the sink, the glass breaking and shattering in every direction.

"Well now What'dya go and do that for you bitch!" I said calmly.

"Now listen here you little shit! You have about five seconds to get out of my house before I call up the police!" She yelled, spit flying in my face.

"So your going to call them up and confess. Hey brother you better come and bring the Priest with you. No thanks I don't want any fries with that but I would like some Human Fingers if you got them. No? Then I guess I will take the fries!" I yelled back in her face madly. I felt like hitting her. No that's an understatement. I feel like ripping out her throat. Something brought out the life of the animal I've always tried to hide. It was free at last. I went insane, and overdose of madness.

"What are you talking about?" She said, becoming scared.

"What do I want, what the hell do you want bitch! Oh you don't want much just a salad? Ahh that's too bad! Because I just ordered fries for you! And God as my witness you are going to eat them and you are going to like them!" I screamed, it echoed throughout the house. Footsteps descended down the stairs. My mother backed into a corner.

"No! Stay away! NOOOO!" She screamed at me as she fell onto the floor and crawled backwards against the counter. Tears began to pour down her face and she began to choke on herself.

Oh, don't worry darling. I'm not going to do much. Mmm, it's nothing' that you haven' dun a'ready." I said calmly.

"NO PLEASE DON'T!" She screamed, her eyes flickered as she looked beyond me into the other room.

"Addie call the police honey! Do it now! Your brother, he's gone crazy honey hurr-" She never finished what it was that she was saying. I turned around and stared deeply into the little girl's eyes.

"Oh now listen here missy, you'll do nothing' of the sort yeh go'me?" She shook her violently and ran upstairs. I turned back around to my mother.

"Well now there's no more distractions we ken finish naw." I walked towards her. She stood up without hesitation and grabbed a large meat cleaver out of the drawer beside her.

"Stay away you crazy bastard or I swear I'll cut you up, just like a did your scumbag father!" She yelled at me.

"Oh, honey are you confusing me wit someone else? It's me, yer darlin' Jean. Don't yeh recognize me?" I asked. I has ter get the knife from her. She's tha one thas goin to die to-day. I ran towards her and grabbed her arm, tryin to get tha knife offa her. She wouldn't let it go though. She forced me back and sliced at me. The knife cut me in my chest.

"Oh, yeh bitch!" I yelled as I took her head in my hands and slammed it down on tha counter. Once, twice, three times. Her skull cracked and blood started to pour out onto the floor. My evil desire wasn't satiated yet though I did return back to my normal state. I continued banging her head until all signs of life in her depleted. Her skull became nothing more than a lump of dust and her wobbly flesh started to splash in the blood. She dropped the knife when she died. I reached down and picked it up of the floor, licking the blood off it. I set to work on her body, slicking and carving it up in the most beautiful ways. Her flesh separated from her bone very cleanly. I started two piles on the kitchen counter, her flesh in one pile and her bones in the other. Very shortly after beginning I turned my mother into nothing more than a couple of piles of remains on the kitchen counter. No need for a requiem hear my dear, she was a sinner.

I left the house after that extremely happy of what I had just done. Oh God how long I wished to do that. How long it's been that I've wished I could kill her. To bathe in her blood. And now I have. My clothes lay in shreds and I was doused in blood and pieces of flesh. Once I emerged out of the house, the cab pulled away in a cloud of smoke. Damn liar. I'll cut him up too, you just wait, I'll make him pay. As I neared the curb of the road a bright object glistened in the noon sunlight. I approached quite eagerly. When I saw what it was my mouth dropped to the ground, and stayed there.

The heart pendant lay on the asphalt. One word came to mind: Kara. Something must be wrong with her. From that moment on things were unclear. I don't remember how, but somehow I managed to get back to Silent Hill covered in blood and flesh. Once I got to our apartment building I ran up the short steps. Just as I reached the door, a tall man in black walked out, he had a large hat on and dark sunglasses. He smiled and nodded at me. I don't have time to waste away here in a conversation with some stranger. I ignored him and ran inside the building, all the way to our floor.

I stood there, staring at the back of the door leading into my apartment. I didn't want to go in. I was afraid of the unknown. I haven't the faintest idea of what I am going to find. I know it can't be too good. Her pendant was all the way in Mansfield, New York. That means either somebody brought it there or she was there herself. And I know the latter is highly improbably so I chose to entertain the former. I opened the door and stepped into hell.

The place was hell. Blood covered the ceilings, the floors, the walls, the windows boarded up. The furniture was destroyed and broken. Large smears of blood led into the Kara's room. I followed it, not willing to accept the reality of the truth. Tears started to fall down my cheeks and I started to cry and moan in pain.

The door into her room was chained up. There was no way in hell I would be able to get in there using it. It was padlocked and boarded up. I almost gave up when I noticed a hole in the wall next to the door, about three feet over. Are you ready to dance butterflies and echo the insane to me?

I slowly approached it, deep in apprehension, for I knew that I wouldn't be safe. I thought of the dream I had at the hospital and the hanging cadavers. I looked in the bloody hole. I could see into her room. It was the scene of a horrific slaughter. I scrunched my face and started to wail. NOO! Kara! No, how could they? How could they!

Parts of her body lay scattered about the room. Her legs were in the corner near a rocking chair. One of her arms hanging from a hook in the wall, the other one out of sight or gone entirely. The Biggest part of her body lay on the bed. The pink covers stained with crimson blood. It was her waist and up. Her insides were dripping out over the corner of the bed accompanied by a river a blood. Her face was severed nearly in half. Her face so distorted I could hardly tell that it was her.

I choked on puke and fell down over her vomiting on the floor and crying too. An intense whirring headache erupted in my brain. The room revolved around me as I gagged and choke. A pool of darkness opened up at my feet. I dove in, in an attempt to escape this world. Hoping that this was nothing but another delusion. And then everything was dark.


	8. Chapter 8: Whispers From The Last Victim

Part Two: A World Of Madness

Chapter Eight: Whispers From The Last Victim In The Mistic Air

The ordinary peaceful world changed. Changed forever. I slipped across the line unknowingly and fell into the darkness and madness of the other world. The world of madness. The last thing I remember was seeing her body dismembered and spread out across the blood soaked room. But the room is empty now, there is no one here but me, and there is no evidence to show that anyone has ever been here but me. Another hallucination? Yes it has to be. I mean, there is no other possible explanation for this. But what about this now, is this another hallucination?

Yes, it has to be. Look at the room, it normally isn't like this. That's right. Her room isn't normal, my God it's gross and disgusting. The walls weren't clean and lemony anymore, they're moldy and gray, and covered in holes and cracks, not to mention a tremendous amounts of stains. The mold was descending down from the ceilings in triangular patterns. The wallpaper was torn and faded and scraps of lay pathetically on the floor. The furniture in the room is old and broken, the bed I'm on is weak and near breaking. I rocked up and down and it the springs inside it screeched painfully. The blankets and pillows covered in the dust as was the carpet, about two inches thick. The room gave off the odor of a dank and dreary cellar. It looks as if it this room hasn't been occupied for nearly fifty years. Odd, since I was just in here yesterday. All of Kara's brilliance was lost and given away to dark despair. I got up and walked to the window on the other side of the room, the dust on the carpet so thick and abundant that I actually slipped a few times. What the hell? What the hell is this?

The window was boarded up. It wasn't too clean a job though, the boards were all fastened into the wrong places, whoever did this must've been in a hurry. A hurry, but why? Ahh, who the hell knows and who really cares, not me. One board was loose and I pulled it out of place and it crumbled up in my hands. Outside it was a dream world, the entire street was enmeshed in a thick, slowly revolving fog. And I mean thick, I couldn't even see the lampposts or the parking meters. It was all blocked out by the fog. Damn, this is getting strange. What the hell is going on? No sign of life seemed to be about on the street. Like the fog brought with it a sense of fright causing everybody to hide themselves in their houses, boarding them up and withering away inside.

I left the room and the apartment, which was in the exact same condition, every room. The stairwell leading down to the main lobby was broken and rusted extremely badly. I had to jump down nearly twenty stairs just to get to the bottom. My knee gave in as I hit the hard padded floor. The lobby was worse than the rooms. Everything in here was covered by an orangish almost red material. The front entrance was completely missing, or more accurately, par of the door lay swinging on the hinges while the other half lay scattered across the front lawn. The fog was coming in the apartment and with it came a deep cold feeling. The coldness gave me an eerie sense of foreboding. I stood there on the threshold not knowing if I should continue outside.

Of course you can. Why not, why shouldn't you go out? It's just a little fog, coming off the lake probably. My mind is right, it's foolish to sit here scared of going outside What danger could there possibly be? I stepped out onto the grass, a rush of cold air pelting me in the face.

Once outside I realized that the fog wasn't as thick as it appeared out of the apartment window. It's kind of mild actually, pretty light. It moved around slowly, revolving around, twisting around objects, bouncing off the ground and buildings. This fog, though, is unlike any I've seen before. It has a deep silver chrome color to it blended in with shades of gray. Almost supernatural.

Oh come on now Darren. You know you're doing this to yourself. Yes, I am. Maybe purposely but I don't know. But who cares, this can't be real. Can it though? Definitely not!

I made my way up to the exit gate. As I walked deeper into the fog I became very lightheaded. This fog is crazy. I stumbled as my vision temporarily faded away, I caught the gate with my hand right before hitting the ground, lacing my fingers around the cold rusted metal. What the hell is going on. My head throbbed with an odd sensation, not quite painful but definitely nowhere near feeling well. It felt like my head was turned into a gigantic heart. Each throb left me choking on the damp, moist air, sucking in the coldness which numbed my lungs. My God, what the hell. Oh, please, make it stop. The throbbing intensified and a torrent of sweat covered my skin. My head spun around uncontrollably and my eyes began to move from side to side. My vision became blurred and all I could see was the twisting metal of the gate as it took the most gruesome shapes. A tight feeling in my stomach began and soon after it erupted and everything inside came out of my mouth. What….the….hell….is…this..? My thoughts were becoming distorted and I found it hard to focus on anything. It felt as if hands were reaching down at me and pulling me in every direction, I felt like I was in a Janis Joplin poster. Everything went black and white as more hot liquid poured out of my mouth. A hot feeling emerged in my hand, the one clutching the gate, it felt as if it was on fire. Ahh! What the hell! What the hell is going on? No, make it stop goddamn it. This is crazy, it's all crazy. I heard myself moaning and sobbing but I couldn't fell myself making the noises. Who is this strange creature, I asked myself as I looked down upon my body. Disgusting, puking all over the place, squirming about like a nutter, and yelling like a crazy man. His cries echoed in the silent streets.

A dark figure was slowly staggering down the street just outside of the apartment building gate. Walking very slowly and cautiously. As its legs carried it forward, its body heaved up and down. It came closer and slowed down. I strained my eyes to keep them still and face forward, drool was spilling out of my open mouth. My eyes stood still and I saw the figure. Although it is nothing more than a silhouette in the fog, I could see the grayish and black outline of its body and its smeared interior. It was hunched over, its massive arms dangling on its side. They were too long and touched the ground, dragging some distance behind it. Its feet were horrifically bent outwards, like the hind legs on a massive dog. It's head though was lost in the fog.

It was too much. The pain and numbness in my body, not to mention the horrific pain in my stomach outweighed his presence though. I could care less. I can't move. I opened my mouth and, with great effort, tried to force out a sound but nothing came but cold air. The insane looking figure came closer and that's what I realized what it was. I've seen this thing before. Shit! Digger the Dog.

I desperately tried to move but my legs utterly refused to. Come on you bastards! Move! It was no use though, I only moved my foot about an inch when the gate went flying across the yard and hit the apartment building, breaking right through the brick and wood. Oh no, this is it. He's got me finally. I sat there in anticipation for His attack. Waiting for him to shred me into pieces with his sword like claws. Well, I guess this is the way it's got to be. No hope. I guess this is the end, He's finally got me cornered. I closed my eyes and waited for him to approach and kill me. My body grew numb with anticipation and the sick feelings left, returning me back to normal. Minutes passed as I sit there with my eyes closed and my body shaking violently. Nothing ever came. I opened my eyes expecting to see Him standing before me, ready to strike, but that wasn't the case. Not at all. Actually it was the exact opposite. Everything was back to normal, the slowly moving fog, the gate was back, and my body felt fine. What the hell was that? This is so screwed up, what is going on? Was that even real? I didn't feel discussing the matter with myself.

I stood up feeling wonderfully fine and rubbed the dirt off of my clothes. Well, what do I do now. Something in my head told me that the whole town would be abandoned as the apartment was but I ignored it. It was a truth I really didn't feel like confronting at the present moment. I decided that I would go to the lake, for some reason, that's where I really want to be right now. I can't explain it, just a strong sense of unknown nostalgia.

The entrance gate screeched as I opened it. It was the only sound in the town except for my slow breathing and the occasional small, very small, gust of wind. I stepped out onto the hard concrete of the street. As was expected, the road seemed to be suffering from extreme neglect as well. Huge holes lay littered across the street, with no sign of the concrete that must of come out of them. There were, however, small chunks asphalt lying here and there but not enough to be the scraps from the holes. The biggest one lay to right, just down the street. It wasn't just in the street, it stretched out onto the sides leveling the buildings. I walked up to it and peered down. It was way to deep to see the bottom but there were faint shadows of what I assume to be cars. Dear God, someone must have drove down there. I rock underneath my foot gave away and I nearly stumbled down into the hole. My feet were halfway over the hole, I waved my arms in the air madly trying to get my balance but it didn't work. I fell over towards the deep pit. My feet almost left the ground entirely when I felt two large hands clasp me under my arms and pull me back up onto the road. Thank God. Jeez that was scary as hell.

"I thought I told you to watch yourself." A fairly familiar and scruffy voice said right into my ear as he let go of me. The ground felt unfamiliar as my feet touched it and I struggled to maintain balance. I looked up at the person talking to me. It was the man from that room in my dream. The one next to the place with those hanging bodies. He was dressed exactly the same, completely in black. His facial features were a little more visible because of the light. His face is extremely worn out, lots of stress I presume. I couldn't see his eyes of his nose, but is mouth I could. It's extremely thin and chapped. His face looks pretty disgusting if you know what I mean. I didn't feel like answering him, I just store into his unseen eyes.

"All right then. Be careful." He said as he turned around and started to walk away. He was halfway gone in the fog when I yelled after him. He seemed to be expecting this and walked back towards me as I said it.

"Just what exactly the hell is going on." I said. His thin, frail lips twisted upwards, a smile? It looked pretty grotesque.

"Ahh, well finally." he said. "I can't tell you much because I don't know all too well myself. Well now let's see. First of all I've been here about three months. Back then I owned this little butcher shop. It did quite well actually. It was family owned you see, so I didn't have to worry about stranger and some young punks who were up to no good. I had my three sons working for me. The last night I remember wasn't a very good day for business. Not a lot of customer, you see. I was out back in the storage freezer putting getting meat ready for the next day. It was horrible place that storage freezer was. And trust me, you wouldn't like it too much either with all the bodies and stuff. It gets on your nerves after a while. Well, anyways I always hated going back there alone. Usually I brought one of my boys with me but they had left already. So I had to do it alone. I wasn't even back there for nearly ten minutes when I started to sweat and get scared. A terrifying place it was, that storage freezer. I always figured if I was going to be killed it would be in that place because that was where I was least paying attention to anything around me. And trust me I'm a pretty cautious and careful man, examining everything around me, looking for something out of the norm, hell, how do you think I survived so long out here? Now I didn't pay much attention while in back there because I was too busy slicing away. The next thing I know there's this loud buzzing noise, a flash of bright light, and then darkness. And that's when I awoke in that room, yes, the same one where you first met me. And that's when I learned the truth." After saying that he took a cigar out of his pocket and a lighter. He lit it and began smoking, the smoke blending in perfectly with the fog.

"Truth?" The words slipped out of my mouth. That isn't even what I intended to say. He looked at me intently and smiled again.

"Well, I really should be leaving now. Got lots of business that needs my attending. But before our little chat comes to an end, there's something I want to tell you. Avoid making any loud noises and if possible stay in the shadows. You don't know how much that will help you." He spit on the ground and turned away, but he didn't get more than about four steps when he turned around urgently and walked back towards me. He came right up to me and put is malformed crusty hand on my shoulder and store directly into my eyes.

"I almost forgot young man. I have a little something to help you with your journey." He said as he reached inside his jacket. He fumbled around for a few seconds and then finally he found what he was looking for.

"Here you go. I'll see be seeing you soon son." he said as he placed the objects in my hand and walked away. I stood there staring out after him until he vanished in the fog and the street once again emerged into completely silence. I looked down at my hands, what I saw there only confused me. A folded up piece of paper and a CD player. The CD player was empty. What the hell is this for? It has a large pair of headphones with it. I unfolded the paper and read it.

_"The Darkness lay hidden in the basement of your mind,_

_It feeds off of your feelings of hate and anger,_

_Destruction and chaos lay abundant in your ignorance,_

_As the other world lay right at your feet,_

_ Traversing in the other world brings nothing but despair,_

_Poor souls whose beings lay trapped there,_

_Take heed to its great power and its control over their minds,_

_For those who wander blindly and incautiously,_

_Will be consumed by their sins."_

On the back of the paper there was more.

"_Seven Angels lay bloody in the battlefield,_

_The darkness at their feet._

_A wanderer lay depressed in the town,_

_The isolation at his heels._

_My father stands firm in his position,_

_Speaking the truth of God._

_The children play joyfully in the forest,_

_The beast watching in the darkness._

_The loner dazing at the sky for the stars,_

_Unaware of the bloody truth._

_The building in the City of God,_

_Stands above all else,_

_As it casts its light through the fog."_

What! The only word that escaped my lips as I read the two. What possible significance can _these_ have on me. Significance? First let me ask, what the hell do they mean? I reread them over and over again straining my mind in attempted comprehension. The first one I could understand. I have a feeling it has something to do with what the man said to me, about the noise and shadows. Also when I talked to him in that room, when I yelled those things began to move about and claw at the door. But they stopped when he turned the light off. Does that mean that there are more of them? Around here above all else. The second one I was at a loss to understand. And I almost forgot, the CD player. I turned it over in my hands examining it. Yep, it's your average CD player, nothing special. I put the headphones on, just to see. It was on for some reason. There wasn't any sound though. Wait a minute there is. What is this? It's a faint whirring noise, sort of like the static in the man's room, no its exactly the same. The noise started to twist and get louder.

"What the hell is this?" I said as I tapped my fingers on it rather hardly. I opened it up, nothing was inside it, and it still continued to make the noise. As I stood there listening to it, a shadow in the fog was getting closer. As it stumbled towards me I expected to see the man again. But it wasn't it. It became clearly visible to me. It wasn't a person. As it got closer the static intensified and blared like a baby crying. I saw it clearly now. I gasped in completely horror and surprise.

It's a monster! It was void of all flesh and its bones and muscles were a blackish color as was the thick liquid pouring out of it in places. It walked with its arms, which has some flesh on it, a tannish rotting color. It's face, bound up in a massive amount of barb wire. Damn! The thing was more funny looking than scary. I nearly laughed, but that was before it emitted a loud screeching noise. It was intolerable. I had to slam my hands against my ears to not lose my hearing. What the hell is going on? What the hell is this creature? It can't possibly be real, no it can't.

It seemed to take notice of me standing there and walked, or more accurately crawled towards me. The thing wasn't very funny anymore. A sick feeling emerged in my stomach as it approached. I have to get away from it. I remembered what the man said, 'stay in the shadows'. Yea good idea now. I looked around but couldn't find any. There were no shadow or dark places in the vicinity. There was, however, a tree just down the street. Aww, damn it! I took off running right past the monster. It seemed to see, or hear me would be the right term, and took off after me extremely quickly. I ran, struggling with the fear. My feet seemed to get heavier though as I ran down the street, the noise still blaring in my ears. It was almost at me heel now but I was only inches away from the tree. When I reached it I threw myself around it in the shadow and yanked the headphones off of my ears. Noise! I thought. I threw my hand over my mouth only allowing little slithers of air to come and go. My heart was heavy and felt as if was going to explode. Damn! A few seconds later I carefully peered around the trunk of the tree, expecting to see it there and it rip my head off or something. I was wrong, or partly wrong. It was there, in the middle of the street standing stilly as if it were asleep. I took my place back at the other side of the tree and sighed deeply and silently.


	9. Chapter 9: The House Of God

Chapter Nine: The House of God

As I sat there regaining my composure I found myself exhaustingly thinking about that other memo. I must've read it about two hundred times already, each time through getting a little more clearer than the previous one. But still no matter, I'm at a complete loss for what its supposed to mean. Angels? Wanderer? A loner? Ahhhh! What could all of this possibly mean? Well, you better not ask me because all you're going to get is a dull expression. Ha, yes I know. Jesus hell this is confusing. Why couldn't he have told me what he meant by these instead writing a whole bunch of confusing words? Ahh well. I guess I do have the time to figure it out but still, I would really rather not. Especially if there's more of _those_ things around here.

Ahhhh, freakin hell! I'm never going to figure this out. Well, it does mention God quite a bit. But what can that possibly mean as well. Wait a minute! A scene from about a week ago flashed in front of my eyes.

_"Look at that Darren!" Kara's voice said in my ear. We were both together walking down an awfully busy street on our way home from the Historical Society. _

_"Huh, what's that? I asked her. She was looking up in awe at a large and magnificently beautiful house. _

_"That house must belong to God. Look at how beautiful it is!" She said joyfully as she tugged my sleeve over towards her. _

Yes! That absolutely has to be it. It says "The building in the City of God", that must be what it's referring to. Finally I figured you out! Then it hit me. What if that isn't it? Well too bad then I guess, it's the only clue I have and I'm going to use it. I slowly brought myself up to me feet, slipping the headphones around my neck and stuffing the CD player in my back pocket, being extremely cautious as to not disturb that creature. I ventured closer to it until I was only about a foot away. Horrifically disgusting it is. It stood absolutely still, not making even the slightest of movements. Heh, I guess the thing doesn't need any air. Upon examining it I kept asking myself, there's no way this thing can possibly be real. But it must be or it wouldn't be standing here on its arms. To ease the tenseness of the situation I decided to name the thing. Out of pure boredom more than anything else I guess. Crawler is his name. The crawling cadaver, ha-ha.

I slipped pass the creature taking heed to man's saying. It didn't even notice me passing it. I guess it's only affected by sound since it can't see with its head all bound up like. God, that would suck if that happened to me, it must hurt like hell. Luckily for me though, the building Kara was talking about is only about a block away. It was pretty hard to see though and that is going to make the short five minute walk about twenty minutes.

As I walked towards the center of town the fog got thicker than ever. This is unreal. Also as I went into the heart of town, the buildings kept getting more and more rotted and old looking. It was as if while I'm walking many years are passing. Eventually I got to the point where the building that I needed to go to was only about fifteen feet away. I don't know, I can't really explain it but while I stood there a feeling of hopelessness washed over me and numbed my body. And here it is: What if this isn't the place? What do I do then? Two questions I have absolutely no answer for. And that only made me feel worse.

I approached the front of the building. Surprisingly this one didn't seem to have undergone the extreme stress as all the other ones did. In fact it almost looked normal except for the obvious signs of aging. It was, however just as magnificent as it was before. It stood quite a bit higher than the other buildings, towering them in superiority. A white building, with no windows at all, and a large wooden door. The ground around it was very well kept and trimmed as was the path leading up to the magnificent stairwell. Two large marble statues lay on opposite sides of the concrete pathway. They both appeared to be some ancient and biblical creature. I didn't pay much attention to them though. I was to excited about finally reaching the destination. And not running into any obvious problems on my journey here. Excited that since I figured that memo out that I'd be able to get back home to my nice little cozy apartment building, the town bustling with happy people, and the pretty smile on Kara's face as she watched the sunrise out the back window over the lake.

The door opened up immediately when I pulled it open. Good because I was expecting it to be locked, which now that I think of it definitely should have. Oh well I guess it isn't really my problem and it is after all, a lot better for me that it is unlocked.

Inside the building, though, it was completely dark. Entirely dark. I mean dark, you've never seen darkness like this before. It was creepy and my whole body began tingling with foolish fear. I barely finished making second step in on the hard floor when I was hit with sudden nostalgia, not the good kind either. I seem to remember this place from somewhere though I'm not sure which, hell, I can't even be sure if I actually do remember this place from someplace or just something about this place brings up some old memories.

Okay now, I really have to be extremely careful. The darkness made the building extremely hazardous, more so than even a construction site. And another very important reason I had to be careful is that I can't be too sure that this place has any monsters in and if it does I can't risk hitting into something and alerting them to my presence, or worse, me actually bumping into them. Oh god, that thought is too horrible to even think of. Imagine that, while walking forward I bump into a sleeping crawler and wake it up. I blocked that out if my mind. Can't let my thoughts wander now, no, this is the worst type of situation to let that happen. I have to stay focused, and by God, I definitely will.

My feet were making too much noise on the hard floor and no matter how hard I really tried I couldn't seem to prevent them from doing so. So I took up shuffling on the ground. It was only a little bit less as loud but it seemed a lot more of a natural noise. Less likely to alert any watchers in the darkness. There didn't seem to be any window in here either, or they were boarded up, but I highly doubt that. I mean look at the place. From the outside it looks really taken care of and I bet in here it is exactly the same. Just as I was about to set my foot on the ground as I was taking another step forward, from somewhere a switch and an intense light lit up the room I was in. Yes, I knew this place was familiar! It's the courtroom I was in during the…. A door opened down the aisle and two men walked out. I dove behind a bench not wanting to be seen. I landed badly and scraped my chin pretty nastily and stood back up and peered over at the men who just began a conversation. The man on the left I recognized automatically, it's the man in the black clothes. The other I don't know, but by his clothes I'm going to a hazard a guess that he's a priest. He was too far away to tell what he looked like but he was about the same height as the other man, give or take a couple of inches. They started to talk, quietly, as if they didn't want to be heard.

"Father Bailey." The man in black said as he shook the other's hands and nodded towards him.

"Hello Joseph. How are you." The priest said tiredly and rather quickly. The man in black, now Joseph, continued. Funny, he doesn't look like a Joseph.

"Father I did as you told me and came to report to you the progress. I'd say everything is looking rather well. Except…." He looked down at his feet wistfully.

"Except?" The priest said terrifically concerned.

"Well, one of them got loose." He said, his voice cracking as he mumbled the "loose."

"Hmm, I see. Well Joseph, how bad was it before it escaped?" He asked calmly as he walked closer to the man in black and set his hand on his shoulder. The man looked up genuinely satisfied with himself.

"Ohhh, don't worry about that Father. I sliced him up pretty good." A devilish smile appeared on his twisted face. " S'only about half of 'im left." The priest smiled at this as he turned around.

"Well that's good, he's not a worry then, I'm sure that kid will take care of him." He said.

"Is that all Father?" The man asked hopefully. It was obvious that the man was greatly intimidated by the priest, almost to a point where it could be called fear.

"No it is not." The man frowned and sulked. "I wanted to ask here are the rest of them are doing. The ones who haven't been born yet."

"Well, they're all doing fine so far. We're not experiencing any of the problems that occurred last time." Joseph said to the priest.

"Good, I knew this new theory would work. How many left do we need?"

"Oh! Only one sir."

"That's great, everything will be done soon. Very soon. Well that's all Joseph, my dear. You may go now."

"Thank you Father. Goodbye." The man said as he shook the priest's hand and walked my direction towards the door. Oh crap! He's going to see me. I shoved my body onto the floor and tried to roll into the small gap between the floor and the bench. It really didn't do any good. As he past me his eyes connected on mine. That was it, that was the only recognition he made of me. He continued walking and left. Oh god, I'm relieved. That was too close, too, too, too, close.

"Might I dare ask who my visitor is?" The priest called out through the large room. His voice echoed off the walls and benches, magnifying it about three times. Mmm! Is he talking about me? No he couldn't be, he can't possibly see me here, can he.

"You really haven't a reason to hide young man." he said again. I know for sure now that he's talking about me. I stood up slowly and faced him, his eyes met mine and he smiled.

"Well hello there stranger." He said to me. "Will you honor me by gracing me with your presence a little closer." He motioned for me to come up to him. Without seeing any reason not to, I did as he directed me to. I walked up to him, once I got there I clearly saw his features. His face was deeply worn by an ongoing stress and weariness, his eyes are surrounded by deep red circles, and his face darkened and rough. My God, what has this man been through. Before I could think of any possible reasons, the priest talked again.

"Now what can I help you with, son. Clearly you're here for a reason." He said as he put his hand on my shoulder.

"Yes, actually I am." I said as I handed him the memos. He took them curiously and read them, his face becoming more serious. When he finished he handed the note back to me and went through the door again. What the hell? Am I supposed to wait here for him? Exactly after asking myself that the man walked back out with a small bag in his hand. He set in on the small table against the wall and carefully took out its contents and motioning for me to approach his sides.

"Here you do, this is all for you my boy. And let me see that pendant around your neck." He said. I gave it to him and approached the small wooden table, eager to see what was there. Holy hell! There's a large silver pistol and box of ammunition. A large red book discolored in some places. On the front it said: The Book Of God. Also there was a small wax candle, I mean small, it was about the size as half of a pencil, and nearly as thin too. The last item was a small golden ring. An inscription on the inside said, "To My Dearest Emma." What the hell is all this for? I was about to ask the man when he placed the pendant in my hand again and spoke.

"You will take all of this and leave." He said quickly and firmly. He reached down into the pocket in his robes and took out a letter, he handed it to me. Then, get this, he left the room and walked through the door. Take it and leave? And just what the hell am I supposed to do with it? The gun yes. But the rest? I ran at the door and tried to open. Locked. Well that was expected.

Ahh, not more of this, now I have to figure out where to go next. Without thinking I sat down in the small wooden chair near the table and opened up the envelope, taking the clean paper out of it.

_"Dear Emma,_

_Honey, daddy is doing just fine if you're wondering. You don't have to worry about me at all. But I'm worried terribly about you darling. I want you to go and stay with uncle Joseph until I get back. That way you'll be safe. And don't worry at all, I've already told uncle Joseph and he'll be coming to get so you won't have to go out alone. And remember don't leave the building honey. Just stay put and wait for him and everything will be all right. Okay sweetheart. I'm going to have to go now, another just fell! _

_Missing you, Love Daddy_

_-Andrew_

_August 16, 1993"_

Well okay, but one question, just what the _bloody hell_ does this mean! Well wait a minute, I know what it means. It's just some letter from a guy to his daughter, but how the hell will this help me. Wait a minute! The ring, the inscription on that said Emma in it. Does that mean… yes it has to be the same girl. Ahh! But some help that is. The book. Hmm, pretty ritzy if you ask me. I opened it up and flipped through some of the pages. What I saw just made me a little angry. Like hell, I can't read this. It was printed in some weird language, none that I've ever seen before. It was large too, must be about two thousand pages or so. Now let's see this, I picked up the large pistol. Pretty heavy, this thing must pack quite a punch. I was never really interested in guns and I set it aside without a second glance. Now this candle, what can this possibly be for? Hell if I know.

I put it back down and just merely glanced at the ring. Oh, and just how am I going to carry all of this stuff. That really didn't need to be asked. The bag obviously. Rather large and durable too. I stuffed everything in it except for the gun which I put a clip in and put in my front pocket. Have to be prepared don't I? I threw the bag over my shoulders, like a backpack. It stayed on amazingly well, perfect fit. I was about to leave when I remembered. How could I forget? The pendant. The priest took it from me, he must of done something to it. I grabbed it in my hands. No, nothing's different. Oh well.

I left the building and stepped back onto the foggy streets. Something was different and I noticed it automatically. I'm not in the same part of town anymore. I know it's strange but I didn't recognize any of the buildings or surroundings. No that can't be possible. But it was as I stepped more into the street and saw the other side I realized, it is in fact different. I've about had enough this. First Kara's torn up body, the fog, the cold, the monsters, and now that priest and all this crap he gave me. I'm not even going to rationalize this because I know that there is no rational explanation. And for the first time, mainly because of not knowing where I was I became scared. Scared of the unknown that lurks on the streets of this abandoned town, hiding in the fog. Hiding, waiting, and watching me. It's driving me freakin crazy.


End file.
